Walking It Off
by HiccupHaddockIII
Summary: Astrid Hofferson swears that this year will be perfect. Math, a car crash and a boy with brown hair changes all that. Modern AU. Hiccstrid.
1. Old Habits

**_Author's Note_**

_Hello! This is my first How To Train Your Dragon fanfiction. I would appreciate any criticism that would help me write this story better! _

_Just want to let y'all know: Hiccup and the rest are 14/15 like they are in HTTYD 1. I am also basing their personalities on what they were in the first movie. _

_Thank you! :D_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon and all its characters. Unfortunately.**_

Astrid Hofferson took a deep breath in the mirror. She wasn't nervous, not really, she just knew what her expectations were for herself.

Last year was all over the place; this year would be organized and perfect.

She would make sure of it.

Astrid grabbed her backpack and ran down the stairs. With a skimpy granola bar to suffice for breakfast, she dashed out the door five minutes later than she'd like. This school wasn't as far away as her old school, so she didn't have to wake up as early, but it was more than a couple of blocks away. She wanted to give herself more than enough time to walk there, just in case. She didn't want to be late for the first day.

The sharp September breeze met her as she opened the door. And before she knew it, she found herself standing in front of the building. There were only a couple others kids there, chatting within their group.

Sighing, she let her backpack drop to the floor and sat down on the first step, rolling a stone under her foot out of sheer boredom. She had 10 minutes to kill, and by the looks of it, not many people wake up as early as her. Oh well.

_Guess it's a habit,_ she muttered under her breath. Her bangs fell on her face and she regretted not cutting them shorter. She was about to brush them back when she heard the sound of skidding tires.

She instantly looked up, just in time to hear a scream and a huge crash.

_Oh my gods. _

Frantically, Astrid yanked her phone from her pocket and dialed 911 while rushing down the block.

x

Henry Haddock internally moaned as he laid in the hospital bed.

He screwed up. _Again_.

He really didn't understand. It was like he was cursed. Accidents followed him everywhere, like he was some kind of magnet.

He tried to sit up and open his eyes. But the room suddenly decided to be ridiculously bright and was rotating to the point where his insides wanted to come outside, so he gave up. The room was empty anyway.

A sharp pain pierced his left leg. Ugh. He attempted to shift its position but then he realized that it was wrapped up in so many bandages like his life depended on them. He couldn't even feel it.

The grogginess was starting to wear off and the annoying buzzing noise left his head a bit. After a brief check-in from his father's voice, he was left alone to dwell on the incident.

Henry then heard his father Stoick, the mayor of Berk, speaking to a doctor outside the door. He hoped his dad wasn't too mad at him.

Like, it wasn't _entirely_ his fault he got hit by a car, but technically, it was his fault after all. He was the one who wasn't paying attention. It's not he could change it anyway.

His foot was bothering him again.

_Stupid leg... _Henry muttered under his breath.

He knew his father loved him, blah blah blah, but he knew his dad saw him as a scrawny disappointment. He couldn't play any kind of sport. He didn't know when he should keep his mouth shut. He always ruined everything.

All Henry knows how to do is doodle dragons and other fictional stuff when his father rants about the football game he's being forced to watch. Or how to create weird invention things that his dad breaks his ankle on because he trips on those "god-damned pieces of garbage." Or how to play video games really loud when his dad is trying to a take a nap. Or how to-

"Hiccup. I have to to speak with you."

Stoick boomed, nodding to the nurse as to send her the message to leave.

Henry cringed at his childhood nickname. His mother had given him that nickname before she died, so Stoick always used it, except when he was yelling at Henry. So, if he was calling him "Hiccup" does that means he's not mad at him?

"Uh yeah, sure, Dad. What's the matter?"

"Son. What do you remember about the crash?"

Henry hesitated. He wasn't so eager to tell everyone he was the one with the fault.

"Well, uh, I was walking, um, to school, but I was, yeah, not, uh... " He trailed off uncertainly.

"Get on with it." Stoick ordered.

"Okay, well, I wasn't paying attention, I was texting Francis, and the light was green for the cars but I kinda still crossed the street. Then there was a crash." Henry said uneasily.

There was also some blonde girl hovering over him while jabbering on her phone, but he's not sure if that was real, due to the fact his head had probably taken a hit.

Stoick seemed unfazed by this information, as though he expected such an answer. Though, he looked awkward when he asked the next question. "Have you, er, felt anything in your left leg?"

Hiccup knew it. He broke his leg or something and his dad was pissed that this would be the second time he broke it. He couldn't lie about this one.

"Uhh... yeah it doesn't really hurt, it just feels weird..."

Stoick cleared his throat and sat down on the bed. "Hiccup..."

He took a deep breath cautiously.

"Your leg was so badly damaged by the hit that the doctors were... er... unable to save it."

Henry Haddock's heart stopped.

x

Astrid hated math.

It was so pointless, and it never made sense. Everything about math was black and white, but reality isn't like that. And honestly, after schools over, it won't matter anymore.

She glanced over at the clock, ticking halfway across the room. Two minutes left. Thank gods.

The boy from that morning entered her mind. Once the ambulance had arrived, Astrid snuck away back to school. She didn't want to be involved or asked questions since she witnessed it. She'd rather be left alone. The boy had to be okay, so it didn't matter.

The bell interrupted her thoughts.

"Okay, class dismissed. We had a great start to the year. And Francis," the teacher shot a blonde boy with a stern look, "Don't forget what room your math class is in."

Astrid didn't stay to hear what he said in response. She wanted to get out of here and forget school even existed. She scurried to her locker and put her math books away.

"Thank gods there was no homework today..." Astrid commented quietly to herself before heading out the two front doors.

She walked down the block, to the very spot the boy was hit today.

_He could've died if I wasn't there... _Astrid mused.

At least somebody benefited from her old habits...

**_Author's Note_**

_Thank you for giving my story a chance! The next chapter will be better. This one was eh. See you then! :)_


	2. Footsteps

**_Author's Note_**

_I want to give a huge thanks to everyone who followed, favorited, veiwed, or reviewed! Thank you so much! _

_Okay, here's Chapter 2. Hope you enjoy it!_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon and all its characters. **_

The doctor was rambling on and on about stuff he'd heard about seven thousand times since he stepped a foot in this place.

"Uh, yeah. Sure, no problem." He nodded, not really paying attention.

Henry, better known as Hiccup, hobbled out of the hospital for the last time (finally!) in his life (he prayed). His prosthetic was okay. Hiccup really didn't know if it settled in that he was an amputee.

He got the hang of the prosthesic. But of course he did, he was trapped in this place for more than three weeks for extremely-quick physical therapy. He was more than happy to get out of there as soon as possible, but his stupid foot was slowing him down.

Stoick thanked the doctor one last time before helping his son down the stairs.

"Which genius puts stairs in front of a hospital..." Stoick muttered to himself. "What happened to ramps?"

Hiccup took this as an opportunity to start a conversation.

"I don't know, well, you're the mayor right? You stare everyone down, so I guess just... um, yeah."

(Hiccup knew it was an awful, horrible joke, but cut him some slack, he had about 1.2547 seconds to come up with it.)

Stoick didn't answer. He was lost in his thoughts.

The first time the abnormally-large brute of a man walked up these steps was probably the most stressful time he'd ever had in his lifetime, and that was something to say, considering the fact that he was the mayor of the ENTIRE town of Berk. Although, if you took into account that he had been carrying his wife-who-had-begun-labor-while-in-the-car, it was only natural that he would be totally terrified that he_ wouldn't make it there in time_ and that_ his son would have been born in the hospital hallway..._

Valka, the absolute love of his life and soul-mate, died 5 months after Hiccup was born. Stoick missed her more than anything. Ever since that awful day, he constantly begged and wished to every god up in Valhalla that it was just a nightmare and that he'd wake up soon, with her by his side in the morning; that she was still here with him and Hiccup, completing their family. It definitely didn't help that his son took after her more than him; more than he'd like to admit, and he constantly found himself reminiscing of her because of this. But he had always been a tough and practical man, and knew of the brutally harsh reality. He knew that he couldn't just let go of his duties because _everyone was counting on him to be mayor_, even though he still felt so utterly _dead_ inside, and had no clue on how to parent his son that they together had dreamed about having _all by himself, without her for the rest of his and Hiccup's lives_...

But, eventually, with the help and support of his lifelong best friend Gobber, a few couple tankards of mead, and a whole month of grieving her absence, he picked himself up and got back to work.

With a sigh that sounded like it contained the weariness of centuries-old-men, Stoick helped Hiccup into the car, walked around it, and opened the door to the drivers seat.

"I'm going on a business trip next week. Do you think you'll be okay home alone?"

Hiccup nodded his head. "I'll manage."

"Good." Stoick buckled himself in. (New record: Only two minutes!)

The rest of the car ride was silent.

x

"Shoot."

Astrid was starving, she didn't have dinner last night. She was studying for that math test she had today.

It was so annoying and stupid. She just didn't get graphs and equations. It was all foreign to her. Her average grade was an 81% and with only being three weeks into the first term, it was absolutely unacceptable.

She just couldn't understand. Math was the only subject she had trouble in. Plus, she needed at least an 85% to make the swim team. Gobber, the PE teacher, didn't just let anyone in.

She could hear Gobber's accent scolding her, _You gotta 'ave the grades an' the speed! If you don't 'ave time to study, you don't 'ave time to swim. _

The tryouts were today, and she was looking forward to this day ever since she heard about them. She knew she needed some kind of structure in her life, some kind of sport. But she didn't want to do some sport where there's teamwork and sportsmanship and stuff like that. Astrid knew she can't trust people.

And there was no food at all that was related to breakfast in the house and she needed her energy to swim today. She settled with the thought that she could stop by the drug store on the way and pick up something simple.

Astrid headed out the door, feeling the September chill settle in.

Knowing they'll be no food i n the house unless she gets it, (the last time her mom made a grocery run was two years ago, and she won't start now) she'll have to sort into her mother's wallet, get, maybe, $30 and stock up on food. Honestly, she needs to eat.

Because of the quick stop, she reached school two minutes after the early bell, which means she could still go in and have extra time to study before homeroom.

The hallway was mostly quiet, due to the fact that everyone who was there, which was not a lot, was talking in lowered voices.

Astrid climbed one more flight of steps and made her way to her homeroom, waving at a classmate on the way in.

Setting her backpack down on her desk, Astrid sighed as she plopped down in her chair and gave herself a pep talk.

_Okay, Astrid. You're going to ace this test and then you're going to make the team. And then everything will be perfect._

Everything came down to this stupid test. This is all math's fault.

She reluctantly yanked her math textbook out of her backpack and some graph paper.

She can do this, she can draw a couple of stupid lines, with stupid numbers and stupid, pointless figures.

Astrid set her pencil on the graph paper and didn't look up until the homeroom bell rang.

x

Hiccup was finally going back to school.

Don't get him wrong; he hates school just as much as the average kid. But school equals normality, which was what Hiccup has always strived to be.

Without success.

He didn't know what to expect. One half of him thought nobody would stare at his leg, because

1) Nobody except Fishlegs cared about him, so why would anybody else care if he lost a limb?

2) His pants was long enough to cover his prosthetic. (He made sure of that)

3) He never made it to the first day of school anyway, so it wouldn't look like an absence, only like a late arrival to the term.

Buuuut, he also thought people would stare because:

1) People always found a way to make him feel awkward.

2) He lost his foot (and his leg from the knee down)

3) He lost his leg

4) He freaking lost his leg

5) Enough said

So, honestly, Hiccup didn't know what to think.

He couldn't remember a time that he had hoped so bad to be invisible.

The car swerved and stopped at double park in front of the school.

"Have a good day, Hiccup. Don't worry, you'll be fine with the prosthetic." Stoick said gruffly.

"Yeah, thanks dad. I hope so." Hiccup said before slamming the car door shut. (His dad's car doors were stubborn; you had to slam the door really hard in order for them to click. Hiccup often jokes to himself that the car takes after its owner)

As if high school wasn't scary enough, he gets to start his first day halfway through the semester and without 1/2 of his leg.

_Typical for me, _Hiccup noticed, annoyed.

"Hey Hiccup! How are you doing? How's the leg? Can I see it?" A familiar blonde boy jumped up when he saw him.

Great. Despite Fishlegs being on the football team, he was a geek by heart. Doesn't he understand that um, he doesn't want to show his prosthetic to the world? Some people were watching them now.

"Hey um...Hiccup? I'm really sorry..." Fishlegs broke eye contact.

"I'm the reason you got hit, I shouldn't have been texting you... I'm really sorry! Please don't hate me... I'm really really sorry about your, uh, leg."

He glanced at his left leg shamefully.

"Yeah, Fish, I'm all right. It's not your fault, don't be an idiot. Er... Do you mind if we go inside and talk? I'm cold."

"It's September, Hiccup. And you're wearing a really warm North Face jacket."

"Yeah. I know." Hiccup awkwardly shuffled his feet to the doors.

Fishlegs and Hiccup made their way into the doors, Fishlegs leading the way to their homeroom.

"Soooo..." He started as he slung his backpack into a desk and reminded himself he'll be here for the next 4 years.

x

"Oh, yeah, my parents. My mom's outside in the car with my baby brother. He's sleeping and there wasn't any parking spaces, so she sent me to pay. I can run out with the paper though, and make her sign it."

Astrid glanced up at the cashier innocently, but casually.

She smiled and nodded in response, so Astrid flashed a smile of gratitude back and dashed outside to make her way to the so-called car in which her mom was supposed to waiting in.

She doesn't usually use the credit cards but she couldn't find any cash in the house, and she needs to eat. She hates puting herself at risk, making up stories and manipulating people, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Astrid scrawled _Jean Hofferson_ on the recipet, crouched behind a car just in case the cashier was watching. That happened to her once, and she wasn't making the same mistake again.

x

"I'm home!" Astrid called out into the house while setting the bags on the table.

Astrid's mother laid on the couch, bagel in one hand, remote in the other.

"Hey Astrid. How was school today?"

Astrid started to make her way upstairs so she could do her homework in peace, but she stopped when her mother spoke. Her mom was weak; she was an emotional wreck after her dad left. She never quite recovered, but Astrid knew she loved her. Even if she wasn't trying to be strong for Astrid. But she was trying to show she cared about her.

"It was good. I tried out for the swim team today."

Her mom widened her eyes in surprise and pride.

"That's wonderful!"

"Yeah." Astrid shrugged. It's not like she's planning on following her mom's footsteps.

**_Author's Note_**

_Hope you liked it! I will be posting Chapter 3 soon. Happy New Year's in advance! 3 _


	3. Just Until Next Week

_**Author's Notes**_

_Hi guys! I just want to clarify that Francis is Fishlegs' real name. "Fishlegs" is his nickname that his friends call him. Sorry if I confused anyone :) _

_And now, Chapter 3!_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon and all its characters. **_

Astrid Hofferson moaned as she dropped her dead-weight backpack on the floor.

She couldn't believe herself.

A 73? What did she do?

How could she do this?

She slumped in a chair by the table.

She knew she was having trouble with math, but she assumed it would've worked out.

Would she still be able to be on the swim team?

This ruins _everything. _

She felt so unsettled and her fingers drummed the table unpatiently. She had to do something about this.

With a grunt, she yanked out her 7,986 pound math textbook.

Astrid had to fix this. She always did.

x

The bell rang and Astrid collected her books but didn't rush out of class like she usually did. She slung her backpack over her shoulder and walked confidently to the teacher's desk.

"Hello, Astrid. How can I help you?"

Mrs. Duncan peered at her over her glasses and looked mildly amused at the sight.

Astrid stood up straighter and cleared her throat.

"Hello, Mrs. Duncan. As you probably know, I didn't do my best on my last test and... "

"... You want to raise your grade?"

Gods, she's creepy.

"Uh, yeah." She let her slipping backpack strap fall off her shoulder onto the floor.

_Stop it, Astrid, don't make yourself grovel. Don't stutter, what's wrong with you?!_

"Well..." Mrs. Duncan stood up to grab her coffee sitting on the desk in the first row. "I don't do any extra help or personal tutoring because I don't baby my students. But I've asked some of my brightest ones..." She paused to give a look to Astrid as to tell her that it didn't include her, "...to tutor some of their struggling peers. They meet after school here, on Fridays. You may come until four."

She picked up her books and walked until she paused at the door and drawled her farewell.

"That's all I can offer you, Astrid. I hope that will help you. Good luck."

And with that, she left.

Astrid fumed and violently slung her backpack over her shoulder. She hated that old hag, she thought she knew everything, _that_ _stupid, old, good for nothing son of a half troll, rat-eating munge buc-_

Astrid had begun to storm out of the room, preparing to destroy the next human soul she saw, (in the words of Hiccup Haddock) and succeeded when she slammed right into him.

x

Hiccup awkwardly scratched the back of his head after receiving a death look from a very annoyed Astrid Hofferson.

He was _sort of _(He's not _that _hopelessly in love) hoping for a black eye or a broken arm, but all the mighty Astrid Hofferson gave him was a look.

Hiccuo made a mental note:

_Status: A Nobody_

Okay, here's the truth: Hiccup was easedropping. He had plastered himself to the wall right outside of the classroom, until Mrs. Duncan walked out, but she went the other way so she didn't notice him. He started to try to get out of there before Astrid came out, but she stormed out of there like a madman (actually mad_woman, _which Hiccup, personally, thinks is _much, much _worse_), _and Hiccup had the honor of getting the full blast of it.

Because of what, again?

_Oh yeah, _he reminded himself of the excuse he gave himself when he made this amazing desicison (like he always does), _he was curious. _

And curiousity killed the cat.

(_Though, no matter how many times his cat, Toothless, has gotten into trouble, he has always managed to make it out unscathed_, Hiccup noticed jealously)

What can he say? He loves math, his life long crush doesn't. He's in the tutor club, his life long crush needs tutoring. Is there a better clichè love story?

_Well, _Hiccup thought to himself, _perhaps falling into your crush is better than falling in love?_

As he has had first hand experience, he's pretty sure the first choice is better.

x

_September 19, 2014_

Astrid etched the date deep in the paper with controlled rage. First, that hag disgraced her by making her come to this thing, and then paired her up with that kid she slammed into this week.

_And every freaking time she speaks, it's always with a sneer like she knows something I don't, I'm going to shove her off her high horse someda-_

"Uh... Astrid? You there?"

She shifted her glare on the paper to the boy. Is he always so naturally annoying?

"Okay, look. I don't care about you. I don't want to talk to you. You just tell me what I got to do to get an A and I'm out of here. Okay?"

Astrid glared harder at him to reinforce her point. She honestly couldn't care less, but he sounds like he can be seriously _annoying. _

He uneasily ran his fingers through his hair. "Um... well sure. My name's Hiccu- it's Henry. If you care."

"Whatever. Tell me what to do for the homework today."

Astrid glanced at the clock. 43 minutes left of torture.

_You're only doing this because it's necessary, s_he reminded herself.

"Okay well..." Henry or whatever his name was cleared his throat, "When you make the graph, you gotta label the axis. That's really important to remember. So... yeah." he trailed off.

She felt his eyes on her as she wrote a _y_ and an _x _next to the arrows of the graph.

"Good. Uh... okay well, you know how to plot the figure, I assume?"

She glanced up at him annoyedly.

_Does he seriously think I'm that stupid..._

"Excuse me, do I look that stupid? Of course I can."

"Right," he stuttered.

Sighing, Astrid returned to her work and plotted the figure onto the paper.

"Now what?"

Hiccup cautiously edged the pencil out of her hands, and into his, then wrote:

_A= (-3,5) = F(A) (-5,-3)_

_B= (1,5) = F(B) (-5,1)_

_C= (-3,2) = F(C) (-2,-3)_

_D= (1,2) = F(D) (-2,1)_

"You have to switch the two points, then make the first number the opposite, so..."

He carefully worked it out on the graph. Astrid watched.

x

Hiccup was freaking out.

She was less than one foot away from him, and despite the fact she was absorbed in her work, _she was next to him and it wasn't because she was hurting him. _

A new record.

He really shouldn't be thinking about this, this is math club, and he should be focused on math.

_But she's Astrid Hofferson, _his mind whined.

_Shut up, _he scolded himself.

"... and then you just keep doing that for each rotation?... Are you even listening to me?"

A very annoyed Astrid Hofferson had finally looked up at him. She was twirling the pencil around in her hands, explaining what she understood and he had zoned out. Wow, he really wanted to get on her bad side.

"Uhh... yeah. That's exactly what you do."

He hoped whatever she said was right because he wasn't going to go and ask her what she said to verify it.

She stole one last glance of suspicion at him, and then leaned over to return to continue rotating the square.

Her hair was pulled back into a braid, as usual, and her bangs hung loose over her face.

_She's gorgeous, _his mind informed him.

_If you don't shut up right now, I'll smash you to pieces,_ he threatened himself.

He blushed when he looked over at her. He was right. She _was_ beautiful.

(Hiccup sometimes has one of these amazing bursts of confidence, which then recedes, usually leading into awkward, embarrassing situations. Here is one of his favorite examples.)

"You're pretty." Hiccup blurted out suddenly.

Astrid looked up at him sharply.

"Excuse me?"

x

The boy mumbled something containing the word _pretty _and there were so many things wrong with that.

First, she was here for an A, not for something that could sidetrack her and waste her time.

Second, that Snot-something boy hadn't stopped hitting on her since she landed a foot in this school, and she had absolutely no patience for anyone who dared to attempt, well, _anything_.

Astrid glared at him and replied with venom, "Excuse me?"

"Ah, uh, noth-nothing, it-it was nothing, ne-nevermind, gah, I'm sorry.."

He spluttered and avoided eye contact.

_Coward, _she mused.

"It didn't seem like nothing."

Astrid replied easily with raised eyebrows.

She _knew_, basically anyway. She just wanted to see if he dared to repeat it.

"Agh! Nevermind!" He bit the inside of his lip, like a form of punishment.

_So he's embarrassed._

Astrid opened her mouth to reply when Mrs. Duncan clapped her hands officially and told them to go home.

As she was collecting her stuff, she noticed Hiccup was about to slip away.

She couldn't let that happen. After throwing her coat on, she slung her backpack over her shoulder. With a reluctant forced nod at the teacher, she hurried after him outside. The cold air bit at her face and she wished she had a scarf. Oh well.

He had the nerve to not listen to her, and then to try to run away.

_Good luck with that, _she laughed to herself.

"Aaand... where do you think you're going?" She said as she yanked him back by his hood.

Hiccup turned around, ran his fingers through his hair and squeaked "Home?"

"Well..." Astrid smirked, "Before you go, why don't you tell me what you said that you're so insistent on _not _telling me?"

She held her ground. This is stupid, she's wasting her time, this isn't her at all. But... she felt like she _had _to know. This boy... he made her want to stop the world and make him listen to her.

But he wouldn't.

Hiccup widened his eyes, mumbled some incoherent words before running off. Though, this time she didn't follow him, though she had a strange notion to.

Astrid just let it go.

Well, at least until next week.

_**Author's Note**_

_Ha! Mrs. Duncan is loosely based off of my old science teacher who was absolutely evil. I'm sure we all have that teacher in our lives, so you can all relate to Astrid. :D_

_And I can't believe how many reviews, favorites and follows I got! You guys are amazing! Thanks :) R&amp;R!_


	4. A Little More Than 8 Minutes

**_Author's Note_**

_Hey guys! Thanks so much for all reviews, follows and faves! And now... Chapter 4! Full of messy high school boys, sassy and manipulative cats, math confusion and unforgettable green eyes. Here we go! :D_

_**Disclaimer: I'd be a rich little writer if I owned How To Train Your Dragon and all its characters, but I don't. :(**_

He was an idiot.

Always causing problems, always running away from them.

Hiccup always knew he was an idiot, but he never knew he could really have been _that stupid enough to tell Astrid Hofferson she's pretty. _

He could take pride on his apparent confidence, but he really knows it's just impulsive stupidity.

And... Astrid's beauty. And confidence. And her fierce attitude and-

_Aah, _he had to pull himself together, _No more Astrid Hofferson._

Well, he was going to see her next Friday, which was really bad.

_A whole hour, _he groaned.

Maybe he could just not show up?

_Well, this is Astrid's grade we are talking about, don't want to ruin her because you can't control yourself._

He had a point.

Besides, he thought he was past running away.

_Ah, _his mind contradicted, _But not showing up isn't the same as running away, right?_

Hiccup nudged a whiny Toothless away, taking his frustration out on the cat, before replying (to himself), _Idiot, literally! Not showing up is 'running away' from my problem!_

"Devil's advocate..." He accused with a grunt.

Hiccup also declared himself officially werid.

Like, who _talks to himself _and blames his _infernal_ thoughts _on something else when that 'something else' is actually him?_

Honestly, he's way past striving to be normal.

He just wants to sane, okay?

Toothless purred with pretend sympathy and snuggled near Hiccup.

"Seriously, Toothless? You just had dinner, you are not getting any more Kenny's Kibbles, okay?"

Toothless was a stubborn little thing, so he whined and used his adorable charm to try to convince his owner.

"Toothless! You don't even like me. You torture me, you just _whine_ all the time for food, you're so selfish and... Are you even listening?"

Toothless ignored Hiccup, as usual. (Toothless knows he's awesome. Haters gonna hate.) He just continued to purr and prance over Hiccup's textbooks.

And finally... the adorable-eyes-like-I'm-abandoned-and-abused-by-my-owner-please-help-me trick.

A little stare contest went down, but it was obvious who won.

"Gah! Works every time..."

Hiccup glared at the cat, then eased off his bed, grabbed his prosthetic and attached it to his, uh, _stump. _

Holding on to the railing, he _thump-tha-thumped _down the stairs with his clunky metal leg and a cat trailing victoriously behind.

He made his way to the kitchen, yanking the bag out of the closet with a scowl. Toothless was curled up on the floor all innocently, like he never manipulated Hiccup to get food. Hiccup was about to pretend to kick the little scoundrel, (that often keeps Toothless in line) when-

_Click-click_

_Keys..._

_Shoot! _Hiccup screamed interally. He gave himself about 5 seconds to clean up a house that took a week to get to this point, when Stoick (The Vast, Hiccup often takes the liberty to add) came through the door.

"Uhhh... hi dad... the trip was okay?"

"Yes, son. How were you this week with it?" He nodded vaguely at Hiccup's leg, but he knew what his father meant.

"It was, uh, good. Well, I mean, it wasn't good, I hate it, but yeah... I sort of got the hang of it, kind of, depends, really," Hiccup watched his dad hang up his coat, "Stairs are still pretty challenging, especially at school, just, you know, well you actually don't know, you never lost a limb." Hiccup gave his trademark lopsided smile.

"Well," Stoick ruffled Hiccup's hair _(What, is he three or something? Ugh. Awkward son/father moments)_,totally ignoring the potential humor, "glad to see your adjusting."

There was an awkward silence, once again reminding the both of them that they had nothing to talk about.

Hiccup scooped up Toothless (oblivious to the saddened eyes of a very hungry cat as he stuffed the food back into the closet) the second his father turned his back.

_I gotta get out of here, I gotta get out of here, I gotta get out of here, I gotta get-_

_"_Hiccup! Why are your things, inventions, whatever they are, all over the house!" Stoick bellowed from the living room.

"Is that your gym bag? And... cat food?! How many times do I have to tell you, keep that cat in your room! Potato chips, sweatshirts... Hiccup!?"

Hiccup gulped.

Ah, shoot, he's caught.

x

"Astrid. Come 'ere."

She turned around and opened her mouth in protest.

"I'll do better, I swear. I'm getting help in math. My grade will go up. Just don't take me off the team."

Surprisingly, Gobber laughed.

"If I take 'ou off tha team, I ruin tha whole chance ou' team got! I just want to make sure you're tryin' to get better.", He paused, then said in a low voice,"I'm makin' an exception fo' yeh. Don't disappoint me."

Astrid set her head in a quick nod, and he was off.

She made the team. Her speed was the quickest, which made her captain. But she knew that math grade would be lurking around the corner.

But, she was taking care of it.

Her thoughts drifted back to that Friday while she packed her bag.

_That boy. _

She'd been thinking about him a bit more than she'd like. Hiccup- he _stuck. _He just stuck his stupid life into hers, and all she wanted was help in math.

_Well, _Astrid vowed, _I'll set him straight and make him stop being so..._

Her vocabulary failed her. She doesn't even _know _him, for Thor's sake, and he's just so... different.

She pushed through the front doors and headed home.

Astrid doesn't really care about what he mumbled anymore. It's how he reacted. Most people would just cower and do what she wants, and he just, well, ran away.

Was he scared of her?

_Stop it, Astrid. You have a life to be focused on. Forget him, whatever, just think about the next math test. _

x

"Uh, hey. Um... sorry about being l-late."

_Stop mumbling, idiot, you'll ruin any chance, _his thoughts hissed.

"It's fine." she says almost too nicely, shuffling papers around the desk, but without eye contact.

Hiccup tentatively set his backpack on the floor, sat down and stared at his _foot_ while waiting for her take a paper out of her folder.

"You have exactly 8 minutes to explain. I'm not wasting any more time on this, but you're not getting away with it."

_Ah, shoot._

His instincts told him to play dumb, it wastes time, that should work...

"Um, I ha-have no idea what you're, uh, talking about, um, Astrid. Do you mean the, uh, math problem?"

Suddenly, she whipped around and stared at him with her (stern) crystal blue eyes.

"Seriously, Hiccup. I want to be done with this. Tell me the truth."

x

The truth.

Astrid wanted the truth.

She wanted to know why he was so different, why did she think about him even though they only met last week, why did she start _noticing _him everywhere, why did she find herself avoiding him, why was he so confusing-

_He's my stupid math tutor. But why does he create problems instead of helping me solve them?_

But she would die before she actually asked all those things.

"Oh gods, I knew this would come back... I'm cursed..." Hiccup mumbled and looked down.

Why did he always avoid eye contact?

_Add that to the list._

Astrid glanced at her watch. 5 minutes left. She had to get him to talk. Now, that's when her good old friend _violence_ comes in...

"Gods, Hiccup! What's so hard? Seriously! Just spit it out before I-" She was cut off by a glare from Mrs. Duncan before continuing in a whisper that was just as threatening,"Before I kick your sorry excuse for a leg."

Only because that's the only thing she can get away with in a math classroom.

_Thank Thor for desks, _she laughed internally.

x

Hiccup saw an opportunity for humor.

He was good at that, right?

"Haha... you got that right. I do have a lousy leg..." He laughed weakly and tried to sound casual about it, "I don't have a left leg. It's a metal prothesic now. Lost it in a car crash about a month ago."

Her face changed from vicious to dumbfounded the second he said _car crash._

He knew that was going too far. You don't tell people awkward personal stuff like that after the second time you see them. Now she's _really_ going to think he's weird.

Great, just great.

x

"... car crash about a month ago."

Car crash? Last month?

Her thoughts whipped back to the first day of school.

It was a boy.

With auburn hair.

_With a nasty looking leg. _

Astrid could hear herself on the phone that day from her thoughts, "... his leg is hurt really bad..."

She thought he'd be okay-

"Wait... Last month, you're sure?"

"Astrid," He deadpanned, "You think I'm so incapable, I'd forget the life-changing day I lost my leg? Anyway, why does it matter?"

Astrid glanced at the clock, it was way past 8 minutes now.

Screw math, she was getting to the bottom of this.

"I was there, I called 911 for you," She examined his unforgettable green eyes, "Oh my gods, _it was _you..."

**_Author's Note_**

_Yay! Cliffhanger! Finally, Astrid reconizes Hiccup :D Remember to be awesome and drop a review. See you guys next chapter!_


	5. Astrid Beats Up Snotlout

_**Author's Note**_

_Hello, everybody! Chapter 5! Caution: Astrid gets in a fight! (It's rather one-sided; we all know who's victorious)_

_**Disclaimer: If I owned How To Train Your Dragon and all its characters, I would create a HTTYD theme park, but unfortunately, I don't. **_

Hiccup just stared at her.

"Wa-wait, you were that blonde girl that was..." He paused, "on her phone?"

The connection finally dawned on him.

(Pun intended)

Then Hiccup realized Astrid was _smiling. _

It wasn't a sterotypical beautiful smile. It was faint, hovering around the corners of her mouth. Almost as if she were trying to sustain it, holding it for a while before returning to her, well, _Astrid_ face.

Hiccup officially declared it was the most beautiful smile he had ever seen.

Then he realized he should probably say something.

"So... um, thanks. Yeah, uh, thanks. You, uh, kind of saved my life..." He looked briefly in her eyes.

"No problem. I just... I wonder why I never," Her sharp blue eyes drifted up into his green ones, "noticed it was you before today."

And on some level, he's sort of happy he lost his leg.

x

"Okay, class. Hand back the papers and begin."

Astrid was in the third row, the first two people taking their time.

_Just hurry up all ready, _she seethed.

Astrid made sure to glare at the gum-chewing blonde who lazily dropped the last two papers on her desk.

Astrid separated them, and passed the last one to Hiccup, who shot her an encouraging but rather lopsided smile.

She nodded and gave him a half-hearted smile back.

Glancing at the first problem, then the 19 problems after it, her mind started to panic.

Taking a deep breath, she reminded herself that she always had herself under control. Leave it to math to change that.

Before she knew it, she got through all the problems and handed her paper in exactly 30 whole seconds before she had to.

Astrid also made sure to give Mrs. Duncan a satisfying, victorious smile.

x

The bell rang.

Hiccup glared at the papers lying innocently on the floor.

That's the _third _time they fell.

He considered leaving them there in a form of a lesson, but then he reasoned that was pretty immature.

So he gave in.

_That's the last time, _he dug his hands deep in the paper as he clutched them.

Then he realized the room was quiet.

There was nobody there, not even the teacher.

He was really that late? He's always the last one to leave class.

Frowning at the queer silence, he finished packing his backpack and made wonderful plans of food when he got home.

And then...

His dreams where destroyed the minute he found his face on the floor.

_Offff course, _he groaned, preparing for the same routine Snotlout used every time he wants to beat up Hiccup.

Hiccup sat up, rubbing his head, and looked up at the much larger boy.

"Uh... hey... my favorite cousin..." Hiccup tilting his head on the side, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

_Snotlout _(Ugh, why did he want that nickname anyway?) grinned and proclaimed, "Oh, I know I'm everyone's favorite person!" totally losing the sarcasm, "But you're not mine!"

Hiccup stared at him strangely, then made motions of leaving, until Snotlout yanked him back from the shoulder.

"Where do you think you're going? I'm not done with you yet. I heard you lost your right leg in that car crash. My father told me."

_Thanks dad, for having such a close relationship with your brother..._

Why did his dad tell him? No, why did his uncle tell Snotlout? Is everyone blind? That's like giving a kid candy on Halloween.

"Um, no, I didn't."

"Oh yes you did! I know you did!" Snotlout proclaimed loudly.

Soon, their little scuffle in the corner had expanded into the whole hallway.

Great. Duh da duh, he's dead. This ruins his whole plan to not let the whole school know. (Except Astrid.)

"Um, no I di-"

"Then let's see it." Snotlout sneered in his face.

Right leg. He said right leg. _He said the right leg. _

Hiccup cautiously lifted the bottom of his pants on his right leg, revealing a _absolutely horrifying _sock and some _flesh _under it.

Snotlout looked confused for a second before resuming his ever-present arroganance.

"You're lying. My father said-", He cut himself off for a minute, trying to remember _exactly_ what his father said, "He said right. Why don't I-"

A smile grew on the boy's face.

"Why don't I kick it to make sure it's actually your foot?"

A ripple of ooo's ran through the obviously enthralled and entertained crowd. (A little too much for Hiccup's taste, though.)

"Snotlout, that's stupid, I _just showed you _my leg was there, skin, bone and everything. Okay?" Hiccup glanced around at the kids snickering while they slammed their lockers.

Hiccup knew where this was going. Snotlout made up a stupid excuse to hurt him, and then he limps home. End of story.

"Just let me... go home, okay?" he mumbled.

Snotlout laughed along with a few of his stupid friends and then gave Hiccup a hard kick.

Hiccup grasped his calf and moaned, collapsing on the floor. Pain shot through his leg, and then-

_Wham!_

"Oww, oh my gods, are you-" Snotlout whined all of a sudden.

Hiccup glanced up and suddenly a blonde- no that's-

That's _Astrid Hofferson. _

_Beating up Snotlout Jorgeson._

She had that fiery look in her eye and didn't stop until Snotlout pleaded and finally put his hands up in surrender when he hit the floor.

"Babe, wha-what's the matter..."

Her voice emotionless and cold, she said quite clearly, "Don't call me 'babe' ever again. And don't you ever hurt him again."

Hiccup still sat on the floor, mouth hanging slightly open.

Astrid whipped away from Snotlout and faced him.

She glanced at Hiccup, then nodded, backing away from a silent and gaping hallway, almost slamming into-

The principal stood at the doorframe of the way to the stairs, crossing his arms.

x

That was it.

She'd spent the last few minutes watching him get bullied, standing in the back of the room, watching the whole thing like a ghost, not doing anything to help.

It occurred to her she was probably one of the few who knew he lost his leg, and it was obvious he was uncomfortable with it.

At first, it was natural instinct for her to ignore the kids who get bullied. Everyone's got it hard, why are they any different? She has her own life to worry about and focus on.

But he was _different_.

She watched and it felt all wrong, and it made her sick, and then-

Then he kicked him.

Something snapped inside of her.

Astrid pushed her way from behind the cluttered hallway, sending a few questioning looks with glares.

Then she punched him, cutting off a 'babe', and gods, it felt so good. She's been wanting to that since he first starting hitting on her.

Snotlout looked so surprised, and she just couldn't stop. A punch was usually enough to shut up a person, but she didn't just want him to shut up. Astrid needed him to _stop. _

And then, while Snotlout was groaning like a baby, the hallway quieted down and all eyes were on her.

"Don't call me 'babe' ever again. And don't you ever hurt him again."

There. She said it. She's made her point.

Then Astrid felt a wave of embarassment.

Hiccup was gaping at her, his hands around his leg.

Astrid knew she did enough for the day, and started to head out when-

The principal.

Cold, angry eyes.

And then, she knew she absolutely _messed up everything. _

**_Author's Note_**

_And... Astrid beats up Snotlout, with some consequences. I really liked writing this chapter, it was so much fun to see Hiccup get justice due to his new aquaintance (which we can definitely see with plain eyes that that won't be for so long ;D) with a very fierce and capable girl. Remember to drop a review and let me know what you think! See you next chapter! :)_


	6. Impossible To Forget

**_Authors Note_**

_Hey! I want to give a shoutout to all my guest reviewers! Even though I can't respond, I really appreciate your comments. :) Also, to BonniePride who leaves the longest reviews that make me smile :D And now, chapter 6!_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD or its characters but if I did Hiccup and Astrid would've been married with 3 kids by the second movie, whoops ;D**_

Astrid, Hiccup and Snotlout sat silently outside the principal's office.

"I just phoned your parents. I informed them of the incident and that you could be picked up in the next ten to fifteen minutes." He gestured to the stairs, "You may go get your coats and backpacks."

Hiccup sat stiffly in the chair before reluctantly getting up after the other two. His father probably was leaving a meeting or something important right now all because of him.

He wouldn't be happy.

Unless, of course, he didn't care about what was going on and assumed Hiccup would just walk home like he usually does...

Astrid took the lead, walking straight ahead of Snotlout and him. She hadn't looked at him once through the whole ordeal, when the three of them had to sit and explain everything for half an hour. He felt really bad. She stood up for him, she shouldn't have. Now she got kicked off the swim team temporarily.

Hiccup knew how much that meant to her.

Of course, he always ruined everything for everyone.

He really wanted to apologize, but she wouldn't give him the chance. Maybe she was mad at him.

He wouldn't blame her.

The silence oddly comforting, he grabbed his stuff from where it was abandoned in the hallway and glanced thoughtfully at the now mostly empty hallway.

_Was that really today?_

It felt so long ago.

x

Astrid quietly opened her locker.

She should've done this earlier. She should've gotten her stuff earlier and went home. She should've never stayed and watched.

Astrid was so annoyed; she wasted enough time here. She wanted to get out, and just leave all her problems where they started: in school.

Snotlout had just passed through the hallway and went up another flight of stairs, because his stuff was still in his homeroom while theirs were on this floor.

It finally registered she was alone with him, except for the quiet shuffle of rummaging books.

Astrid didn't know how to feel about him. She was avoiding him because she didn't know what to say or act like.

She just didn't know anything, especially when it came to _him _and gods, she hates being dumb like this. Astrid just understood one thing: _No swimming until next month due to your unacceptable behavior. _

This never happened, she never got in trouble.

She was Astrid Hofferson; she was always perfect.

So who's fault is it?

Hiccup was the reason, after all, but he wasn't, because it wasn't his fault he was bullied.

Then, she would say, it's Snotlout's fault. But again, he didn't force Astrid to run up and start beating him up.

So, it was her fault?

But her actions were reflecting her feelings, which were there because of Hiccup.

It always comes back to Hiccup.

x

Hiccup glanced over his shoulder nervously.

He had to talk to her.

"Uh, um, Astrid?"

It came out as a mumbled whisper but the hallway was obviously quiet enough.

"Yeah?"

"Um..."

He didn't actually have a topic of conversation on his mind, he'd assumed Astrid would take control... he really didn't want to talk about, _well, you know, _but he was trying to stop running away from things...

_So. Here goes nothing._

"I'm sorry, uh, for, like, making you-"

Astrid turned around and sighed.

"It's not your fault, Hiccup. It was mine, I have to take responsibility for my actions," Astrid replied, quoting the principal's words, "I guess I just couldn't stand the sight of you getting hurt like that-"

Sharp footsteps echoed from the stairwell.

_Snotlout's back! My favorite person in the world, _Hiccup rolled his eyes sarcastically towards the stairwell.

Astrid gave him a we-will-talk-about-this-later-really-don't-feel-like-disscusing-in-front-of-Snotlout-if-you-know-what-I-mean look.

Well, it was mostly a sharp, final nod but you know Hiccup, _always making things complicated. _

Hiccup watched Snotlout stride right past them, chest puffed out in pride despite the bandage over his eye, thanks to Astrid.

His inner 10-year-old self snickered immaturely in the back of his mind.

Hiccup reasons he should compliment her work when they get to talk again.

x

Snotlout's ride pulled up in a fancy Mercedes car. With one last sneer towards Hiccup, Snotlout strutted towards it.

And then he was gone.

Astrid pretended to watch the cars coming by for hers. She knew her mom wasn't coming, because they didn't have a car and her mom was definitely not walking all the way over here when she knew Astrid can walk herself home perfectly fine.

Of course, the principal wanted to watch them go straight home, straight to whatever lecture their parents had for them.

_Excluding Hiccup, _she assumes, only because she knew that he knew Hiccup didn't do anything wrong.

He was finally gone now, leaving Astrid and Hiccup alone on the sidewalk.

x

"Is your dad coming?"

Hiccup sighed. He wasn't sure. He was sure, though, that his dad was working.

And you don't disturb Stoick The Vast to go get his troublemaking son from school.

_Screw what the principal said to him, it's been so long since then. _

At least it felt like a long time.

"I really don't know," Hiccup replied, glancing at the girl, "I'm going to call him now."

Astrid nodded, seeming lost.

Hiccup pulled his phone from his back pocket and tapped his father's contact.

"Someone coming for you?"

Astrid scoffed and rolled her eyes with bittersweet sarcasm.

"My mom probably told the principal she was. But I know better."

Hiccup raised his phone to his ear hesitantly. He didn't know how to respond to that.

"... W-what about your dad?"

Silence.

Except for the monotonous _Riii-ng, Riii-ng, Riii-ng... _in his ear.

Then, that all too familar tone of a heartless mechanical voice informing him of the obvious.

_You have not reached 1-646-975-3174. Leave a message at the sound. _

Hiccup sighed.

Of course.

He hung up, knowing it was no use to leave a message.

Astrid kicked a stone that laid on the ground.

"Left us couple of years ago. He just," Astrid turned her head away from Hiccup and forced a bitter laugh, "left one night. Didn't look back."

And then she added under her breath, "Bastard."

Hiccup didn't know how to respond to that.

"I'm really... sorry. That's... really awful."

He shifted his position and stuck his phone back in his pocket awkwardly.

"It's okay. I grew up a long time ago, I'm over it. Thing is," Astrid faced him, "My mom didn't."

Ah. That explained why her mom wouldn't be coming.

Hiccup grew uncomfortable. He wasn't sure how to react. He wasn't good at social interaction and expressing his feelings.

He sympathized with her, because it was something awful to go through, but it was why she is the way she is- strong, cynical, and focused.

But he had a hunch that if he voiced these thoughts, he would find a fist in his jaw.

x

Why did she just say that?

Astrid never told anyone that. She never trusted anyone.

But she barely knew him, and here she was, blabbering her life problems like a whiny baby.

He was just so easy to talk to.

Astrid abruptly changed the subject.

"So... looks like you're walking home too?"

Hiccup glanced at his feet, then at her again, before replying "Yeah."

Astrid eased off the wall she was leaning on and grabbed her backpack, motioning that they would walk together.

Hiccup mumbled behind her,"My house is, uh-"

Astrid cut him off with a look.

"It's the biggest house that sits one block away from mine. Let's go."

Did he forget his dad is the mayor?

She whipped around and set a brisk pace, just to find Hiccup scrambling to keep up with her.

He was such a... fishbone.

x

Hiccup never knew Astrid lived a block away from him.

Of course, there was the fact that he wasn't social and didn't get out of the house except for school.

The first block was silent, except for the quiet rustling of leaves being crushed and the wind howling.

"It-it's really cold," He commented lamely, sticking his hands in his pocket.

_I sound so desperate for conversation, _Hiccup internally groaned.

Truth is, he was. He wanted to thank her for how she stood up for him, but he didn't know how to without sounding awkward and stupid.

"Yeah, it's not much of the actual temperature," Astrid glanced at him,"it's really just the wind."

"Yeah." He agreed quietly, ending their conversation. (Did that even count?)

_Okay, Hiccup, move your lazy butt and say something! Geez, just say thanks! You always make things a big deal. She's just a girl. _

_Yeah, _Hiccup rolled his eyes at himself, _she's not 'just a girl', she's Astrid Hofferson. My life long crush, remember?_

"Uh, um, just wanna, uh, sa-say that, uh, th-than-"

"Gods, Hiccup! Can you speak a sentence without mumbling or stuttering?" Astrid glared at him and forcefully stared straight ahead before purposely quickening her pace.

He blew it. Of course. Leave to him to fail at accomplishing the simple.

x

It hit her in the middle of his sentence.

Astrid _liked _when he stuttered. It was cute, adorbable actually, he always looked sort of scared of her, like a little kid.

_What?!_

Astrid mentally swerved off the road.

So then she snapped at him and pretended he didn't exist.

She couldn't do this anymore. Astrid had to forget _him_, ignore _him_, pretend everything that involved _him_ didn't happen.

Astrid muttered a "Bye." when they reached her house, leaving him standing and waving awkwardly on the sidewalk.

She walked right in her house and didn't look back at him.

If only Astrid would've known then that forgetting that awkward boy would be impossible.

**_Author's Note_**

_Sorry for the long wait. Had a bit of writer's block. Remember to leave a review telling me what you think! I want to know how I'm doing. Criticism is greatly appreciated! :D_

_Next chapter coming possibly next week, depending on how good I do. _

_See you then! _


	7. Astrid (Apparently) Doesn't Like Puns

**_Author's Note_**

_Can't believe it's Chapter 7. It was just yesterday that I was writing Chapter 1. Wow. _

_Sorry for the long wait! I had to take a break from writing because when I started, it felt forced and just ugh. So I took a break and came back to it and now it's done! This is actually longer than my usual length, but that's good, right? Haha. _

_Keep in mind that Scott is Snotlout's real name. So, Stoick would call him Scott and Hiccup would usually call him Snotlout. You know, teenagers and their strange nicknames. :D_

_Here we go! Hope you enjoy it!_

Hiccup set his backpack down next to the door and checked his phone for the time. He had a couple of hours until his dad came home.

Sighing, he realized he honestly didn't understand why Astrid had gotten annoyed so easily when he had stuttered in front of her plenty of times before.

_Girls, _Hiccup rolled his eyes.

It was a long day, and he was _really _tired. Thinking would just make it worse.

Hiccup trudged up the stairs with a very heavy backpack just to be greeted by a whiny cat at the top.

"Not now, Toothless." He breathed dramatically.

Toothless persisted and clung onto Hiccup's prosthesis. Hiccup rolled his eyes and decided to act like the cat didn't exist, so he dragged his leg along while lugging around his backpack.

_Useless mammal._

He arranged his stuff around his desk and plopped down on the chair and sighed, glancing at all the homework he had yet to do. Toothless didn't budge and didn't look like he would in the near future. Sometimes he didn't understand why he got that cat anyway.

Hiccup glanced at the rest of his room and decided he needed better organization skills. Everything from clothles he was too lazy to stuff in his drawer to tin foil creations to doodles of dragons covered his room. His bed didn't even look like a bed anymore. He couldn't believe he slept under all that at night.

Hiccup wondered if he should just go clean up his pathetic excuse for a room, but then his cat decided that Hiccup's attention should be on him. Toothless climbed onto Hiccup's lap, snuggling into his shirt, gazing up at him with huge green eyes.

Hiccup narrowed his eyes, questioning the cat's intentions, but he had to admit Toothless did make him feel better.

Even if he was annoying.

x

Astrid had promised herself she wouldn't think about him or interact with him again, unless she had to.

And knowing she had been working on just one problem for the last hour without getting anywhere, she figured she couldn't do it.

Astrid adjusted her position on the chair, resting her head against her hand.

As much as it pained her to realize it, she needed help. Astrid was always independent, and she hated depending on someone (especially someone she was trying to avoid) for something.

Her house was dead silent, since she was the only one home. Her mom had finally decided to get out of the house, but hadn't bothered to tell Astrid where she was going or when she was coming back.

It's not like Astrid cared anyway.

Glaring at the paper one last time, she leaned over the table to where her phone was lying.

She had asked for his number at the beginning of the first session. It was implusive, she didn't even think about it. It kind of made sense to have his number.

Right now, she was glad she did. Otherwise she'd have to resort to Google, which never explained anything well enough.

After typing his number in, she wrote:

_Hey, it's Astrid. I'm having trouble with #13 on the homework. Help? _

She debated if she should write "Thanks." at the end, but then decided against it.

Astrid sighed and set his phone on ringer so she would know if he answered. And he better.

x

"Wait, so Scott was hurting you?"

Hiccup waved his hands around annoyedly. Was his dad really this dense?

"Yes, dad," He sighed, "Scott was bullying me just like he did in middle school. Did you think he would suddenly stop?"

Stoick finished his dinner. He knew Scott was a tough boy and had pushed Hiccup around when he was small, but bullying?

"Why didn't you ever tell me?"

Hiccup gave his father a look.

"What does it look like I'm doing right now?"

Stoick gave one back and replied,"You know what I mean. You never told me he actually beat you up."

Hiccup was at a loss of words. Why didn't he ever say one night "Hey dad, your nephew beat me up today?"

How does he explain this?

"Well... we don't really talk a lot, I assumed it wasn't important," Hiccup avoided eye contact and looked down, "And I thought you wouldn't really care."

Stoick shook his head.

"Hiccup, you know I care. You know I love you."

Hiccup gave a lopsided smile. "I know."

None of them said anything but they were both thinking the same thing. The two of them were just too different. They couldn't communicate properly.

"Well, you better be off to bed. I'll talk to my brother about it."

Hiccup widened his eyes. "N-no, don't, he'll talk to Snotl-," He stopped himself, "Scott and then he'll never let me hear the end of it. I can deal with him."

Stoick got up from his seat and walked around the table to set a hand on his shoulder, oblivious to the fact he almost sent him flying off his seat.

"Glad to see that you're growing up. Goodnight, son."

And with that, Stoick was gone, leaving Hiccup alone to put everything in the dishwasher. (They alternated every night.)

Hiccup had mentioned that Astrid had beaten up Snotlout to defend him, but his father did not comment on her except to nod with approval with a "Smart girl, that one."

Yay. His crush was father-approved.

It was too early (Well, in Hiccup's opinion) to go to bed, so he yanked his phone off the charger and decided to waste time playing some game.

Surprisingly, he had a notification.

He had gotten a text from some random number. Nobody ever texted him. The only people he ever talked to over his phone was Fishlegs and his father.

He opened Messages and was surprised to see, _Hey, it's Astrid. I'm having trouble with #13 on the homework. Help? _

Astrid?

The Astrid Hofferson... texted him?!

_Now don't overthink it, _He told himself, _she just wants help with math. _

But his brain was just, _OMG ASTRID HOFFERSON- THE ASTRID HOFFERSON, YOU KNOW THAT GIRL YOU LIKE A LOT- TEXTED YOU FIRST VOLUNTARILY ASDFJKJENWNSK THIS ISN'T REAL KAKSHWHS WHAT IS HAPPENIN-_

Now. No need to panic, it's just math.

He should text her back. Astrid sent it over an hour ago. He could already see her eyes boring into his because he didn't answer.

Suddenly, he began to feel nervous.

What if he messed up?

Is it possible to make a fool out of yourself in the virtual world?

_Well, _Hiccup thought grudgingly, _If there wasn't a way, I would be the one to create it. _

He wandered upstairs and closed his bedroom door, nudging away an annoying Toothless.

He took out his math folder and studied number 13.

_Hi Astrid!_

No. That sounded so... cheerful and friendly. And like he was a elementary school wannabe.

_Hi Astrid._

Hiccup shook his head. Too serious and business-like.

_Keep the introduction light and go straight to the math, _he advised himself.

_Hey._

_Hi!_

_Hey Astrid. _

_Hey Astrid!_

_Hi Astrid!_

_Hello!_

_Hello._

_Hello Astrid,_

_Hello Astrid!_

Hiccup couldn't believe how pathetic he is. He couldn't even get one sentence out.

After staring at the blinking hyphen for 3 minutes in hopes he could come up with something less lame, he settled for this because it matched her tone:

_Hey Astrid, this is how I did #13._

Then he sent a picture of his work.

Sighing, he put aside his phone and double checked his answer, just in case he messed up and made Astrid mess up too.

5 minutes later, he got:

_Thanks. _

Wow. Talk about heartlessly formal. She must be mad at him or something.

This is every boy's dream. Texting Astrid Hofferson. Even though it's a pathetic excuse for a conversation, he attempts to save it.

_Anything else I could help you with? _

He was tempted to add "m'lady" at the end with the winky emoji, but something told him he shouldn't use his pathetic flirting techniques with Astrid.

Then he got back, _Not really. I kind of got everything else except for that one. _

Improvement. She wasn't replying with one word answers, which is a good thing. He could actually go somewhere from here.

_Ah. I guess you can't get a worse combination than the unlucky #13 and math. Glad I was there to help ya sum it up :D_

Okay, not his best math pun, but hopefully she will pick up on it.

He got back: _You did not. _

Hiccup grinned. There we go.

_Yes I did. XD You know, I used to hate math too but then I realized decimals have a point. _

He could always depend on his buddy, puns, to lighten a conversation.

Hiccup got back, _I'm done with you (and math), _followed by a bunch of laughing emojis.

Hiccup couldn't help but smile.

x

_H: But I'm not done yet! There's still so many problems to work out!_

Astrid bit back a laugh. She didn't know what a nerd he could be. She was about to respond when he sent: _There's so many that I've lost count. :D_

Astrid held a hand to her forehead and rolled her eyes. He must think he's so funny.

_You're really not funny, you know. _

A minute hadn't even passed before she received, _I'm sorry. The concept of laughter is 4n to me. _

Astrid didn't bother holding back a laugh before typing, _Do you even speak English? I swear puns must be your first lauguage, _with a laughing emoji.

Astrid set her phone aside and climbed into bed. Earlier that day, she had just wanted to ignore him, and now she was anticipating his next text message.

_Ding! _

Astrid reached over for phone and found, _I know I have a problem. :D _

Grinning in agreement, she wrote back, _Is it humanly possible for you to run out of puns?_

x

_H: They just multiply and after a while, I loose count. _

Hiccup was on a roll tonight. He has finally found someone who has an appreciation for puns!

_A: Puns like that are the reason why I hate math so much._

Okay, scratch that. Maybe she doesn't like puns. But if she really didn't, she wouldn't be responding. Despite that, Hiccup needed a really good one.

So, she said she hates math, he could use that...

_H: Now that you've mentioned that your problem with math, I have a solution: Wear glasses, they help with your di-vision._

YES! Perfect. Two puns in one shot, that's perfect. It's that kind that makes you want to drive your head into a wall, but in the meantime you're laughing that same head off. Love/hate relationship, you know?

Toothless meowed and Hiccup took it as agreement. He could always depend on Toothless. Which is sort of sad, because Toothless is a cat.

_A: Okay I have to admit, that one was good :D_

Nailed it.

He couldn't really think of another pun to answer, so he just sent the tongue-sticking out emoji.

_A: Oh, no pun this time? Thank gods._

_H: You know that could change at any given time. My replies are variable. _

Grinning at her obvious annoyance, he got back:

_A: I really had some sort of hope for you and then you just ruined it. _

_H: Whoops, I'm so sorry. I tend to screw up a lot. You know, I got kicked out of math class once because I had too many infractions. _

_A: I'm going to ignore the pun and address the fact that I'm in the same math class as you and I have never seen you disobey the teacher or get kicked out. _

_H: So I've been caught lying. _

_A: Shame on you. _

_H: I should totally go for the whole bad-boy thing. _

_A: You shouldn't. You would fall on your face before you even broke one rule._

_H: Can't say I've heard a more true statement. Snotlout used to call me Hiccup The Clumsy before he upgraded to Hiccup The Useless. _

_A: Don't even mention him. He's at the top of my hit list. _

Astrid was finally displaying signs of humor! (... and violence. Not good.)

_H: As you had demostrated today... I never got to thank you so yeah, thanks. _

He hated to ruin the whole conversation with something genuine but they were on the topic and if he didn't say it now, he would probably never say it.

He glanced at the clock. 11:06. How had the time passed so quickly?

_A: No problem. He's annoying as hell and such a jerk. I'm so happy he got a month of detentions._

_H: Couldn't agree with you more. We can bond over this mutual dislike. Anyway, where am I on this infamous list of yours?_

_A: Number two :)_

How dare she add a smiley face.

_H: WHAT? Okay, so am I surviving the night? Please? _

_A: If you actually know me, you know that you don't stand a chance at life..._

_H: I don't doubt that for a second. What did I do that brought me so close to the top?_

_A: You like puns. Unforgivable. _

Ah. He knew those puns would come back to bite him in the butt.

**_Author's Note_**

_Okay, some of these puns were lame, but this is Hiccup we're talking about. (You know, the adorable dork :P) I came up with all of them, but only after I surfed the Internet for inspiration. So I won't take all the credit but I do get some. So yeah. :D Tell me what you think in the reviews! _

_Now that I've mentioned reviews, I want to thank and give a huge hug to everyone who reads and reviews! Thank you for your support. :) It motivates me to write new chapters. _

_TO ALL OF YOU PEOPLE WHO HAVE THE APP "RISE OF BERK": Have you seen the Valentine's Day update!? Hiccstrid feels! The loading screen and the app picture itself are absolutely adorable. Hiccstrid week! :D_

_My author's notes are always so long. Whatever. :) Thank you for reading! Drop a review before you go, it means a lot to me! See you next time! _


	8. Hiccup Needs An Astrid Hofferson Manual

**_Author's Note_**

_The debut of the twins! I love writing Ruffnut, she's absolutely hilarious. So:_

_Rachel is Ruffnut's real name. _

_Timothy is Tuffnut's real name._

_This is a little longer than my normal chapter. (My first chapter over 3,000 words!) But that's good, right? I super sorry it took so long, I just never got around to it... Well, here it is now! Enjoy! :D_

**_Disclaimer: I wish I owned How To Train Your Dragon and all its characters but I don't so... *cries in corner*_**

Astrid picked up her lunch and headed over to her lunch table.

"Hey," She smiled at Rachel Thorston, better known as Ruffnut, "What's up?"

Ruffnut kicked her twin brother Timothy, or Tuffnut from under the table.

"Oh, you know. Torturing my twin."

Astrid raised an eyebrow at a groaning Tuffnut while she sat down and started to eat her lunch.

"Ow, I am hurt! I am very much hurt!" He complained, clutching his leg.

Ruffnut rolled her eyes. "Shut up, you."

Astrid reminded herself of how these two got their nicknames. They were _rough _and _tough, _but also nuts.

"He forgot his lunch. Again." Ruffnut sighed dramatically, "And then he expects me to share mine. Totally not happening."

Astrid smirked, shaking her head at the girl before continuing to eat.

"Hey Astrid." A snide voice came from behind her.

Astrid groaned and set her water bottle down. Not _him_ again.

"Snotlout, go away," She looked up to glare at him, "Unless you want a fist in your face?"

Snotlout sustained his grin and sat down next to a dramatically groaning Tuffnut.

"Oh, Astrid. I know you're playing hard to get, but you know what a catch I am." Snotlout commented conversationally while flexing his arm.

Astrid was torn between standing up and showing _him_ what a catch _she_ was, running to the bathroom to throw up or to just not waste another second of her life on him.

Violence is communication, right? Maybe she should force his idiot brain to finally learn what's going on.

She changed her expression and smiled pleasantly at him, and then cracked her knuckles menacingly. "We don't what a repeat of yesterday, do we, Snotlout?" She replied lightly.

Ruffnut snickered from beside her. "Astrid totally kicked your butt yesterday."

Snotlout glared at Ruffnut before facing Astrid. "What was that about anyway? I was teaching my pathetic cousin a lesson and suddenly you take it out on me. Are you mad at me? I'm sorry, babe, what did I do to make you mad, I'm-"

He stopped halfway through his sentence when his face squished up in pain. Astrid's sneakers dug into his shoes which were across from hers under the table.

"First of all, I am _not_ your babe," Astrid hissed fiercely, "And second of all, you shouldn't beat him up. He's actually nice and decent and- ," Astrid shut herself up before she said more, "And you're an idiot, and I hate you, as I've stated so many times before, so leave me alone. Forever. Okay?"

Snotlout ignored everything she just said and smiled at her.

"Whatever you say, babe, but I know where your heart really lies..." Snotlout grinned before going after Tuffnut, who left the lunch room to do who knows what.

Astrid clenched her fists and was about to go after him until she noticed Ruffnut's face. She was leaning back into her chair, giving Astrid a mischievous look of satisfaction.

"What's that stupid smirk for?" Astrid accused, narrowing her eyes.

"Interesting..." the twin muttered, keeping a devilish grin upon her face.

Ruffnut snickered at Astrid and twirled her hair around her finger.

"I've been waiting months for this, Astrid. The great warrior and fearless Astrid Hofferson, finally gets around to be a girl and she picks a nerd," Ruffnut commented casually, and then shook her head unapprovingly, "You do realize this determines your type."

Astrid widened her eyes before resuming her glare. "Wh-what? No! I didn't _pick _anybody. You shut up. We're probably not even friends."

Ruffnut gave her a look.

"_Probably_ not even friends? I suppose you decided to get your hands dirty with Snotlout blood for no reason? I mean, I'm the first one in line to root for you when you pull the punch, but did it for this guy's sake. In front of half the school. Aaand," She said matter-of-factly, wiggling her fingers at Astrid, "You got a month off swimming and that geek is still alive. That's gotta mean something."

If looks could kill, Ruffnut would be dead.

"I'm done talking to you, _Rachel Thorston_," Astrid glared straight ahead and finished the last bites of her lunch.

Ruffnut let out a laugh.

"Oh, you're really pulling the real name card? Desperate move, Astrid." Ruffnut teased despite the fact Astrid was pointedly ignoring her.

"Denial's the first step, my darling." She sing-songed as she stood up, collecting her garbage. "You know you love me. Well, I'm off to see where my idiot brother and his friend is. Maybe they're blowing stuff up." She shrugged.

"I should go join them. Anyway," Ruffnut responded to Astrid's persistent glare, "If you don't want to talk to me anymore, you know who you could talk to. You know, your new _friend_."

Ruffnut nodded towards where Hiccup was sitting alone at the other side of the room before running off, giving her a devilish grin over her shoulder.

x

Hiccup stared at the black dragon on his paper. The art teacher _did_ say they could draw whatever they wanted. And for Hiccup, that usually means doodles of dragons.

He enjoyed his art class the most because it was peaceful. He could get lost in his own world and just draw. He drew this dragon so it looked lethal and menacing but in reality, as Hiccup glanced at its features, it was not a huge, scary dragon like others he'd drawn in the past. It was pretty small, and its teeth weren't sharp or big. But it was a formidable enemy, seeing that it could fly faster than the speed of light, under the cover of darkness, and could shoot plasma blasts. Which was pretty awesome.

Now. Hiccup needed a name for the species that reflected that.

Fast Blast?

Dark Dragon.

Deadly Night.

Fast Dragon?

_Those are so lame_, he groaned.

Small Speed.

Night Speed?

Ugh, no. He liked the "Night" part though, so he can keep that.

Night... okay, so he wanted to express the fact it's dangerous, maybe...

Night Fury?

Hiccup repeated it to himself in his head. That one was actually good.

_Night Fury_, he scrawled under the sketch, and then had a sudden burst of inspiration, _The unholy offspring of lighting and death itself. _

There. Perfect.

He hastily wrote his signature at the bottom in tiny letters, because he hadn't left much space on the paper.

Hiccup looked up from his drawing just to see everyone lined up by the door, ready to leave the second the bell let out a single ring. He sighed and started to put his stuff away, and before he knew it, the bell rang and the room was empty.

He noticed that his current situation was very much like yesterday's so he scurried to get out of the door. He definitely _did not _want a repeat of yesterday... His locker was towards the right of this classroom, so if he could just-

_Slam._

Hiccup slammed into someone passing by and hit the floor, mostly because of his natural clumsiness and prosthesic. He hurried to get up, mumbling apologizes to probably the wall since the person probably kept going...

Hiccup looked up and met the eyes of Astrid Hofferson.

"Oh. Uh, hi," He managed, instantly looking away.

_Stupid Hiccup, say sorry! Say anything, you wimp!_

Astrid smiled nonchalantly at him and adjusted her backpack strap.

"It's no problem," She looked down, "Wait, what's that?"

Hiccup glanced at his forgotten backpack and oh.

In his haste to leave, he didn't put the Night Fury drawing away...

And when she knocked into him...

Hiccup avoided eye contact awkwardly and pretended he didn't hear the last thing she said.

Astrid ignored him and bent over to pick the paper up. When she straightened, she was studying the drawing.

_That's it, she's gonna think I'm childish and weird and nerdy and hate me forever and-_

"This is pretty good." She handed it over to him with a grin. "You definitely have talent."

Hiccup was about to stammer and mumble something along the lines of "Thank you." but it never came out, so he just smiled back and looked anywhere but her.

And with that she brushed her blonde bangs from her eyes and was gone, leaving Hiccup dumbfounded at why she had been so...

Nice.

x

Astrid was confused.

He just entered her life all of a sudden, and it changed everything. She flashbacked to the first day of school. Looking back at it, she cringed at the unconscious and hurt state he had been in, with his foot mangled and-

She kind of saved his life before she even knew his name.

Were they friends like Ruff had said? The thought of being _friends _with _Hiccup Haddock _made her feel uneasy. She's not even supposed to know he exists. But they were pratically friends. Hadn't she texted him for an hour last night? Didn't she laugh at his lame and dorky puns?

Yes she did. They certainly talked like they were friends.

But earlier that same day, she had vowed to not interact with him except when she had to for math. But when she texted him...

And she had smiled when she knocked into him. The first time that happened she could remember the scowl and disdain she had for him.

Something had changed.

But he always mumbled when he talked to her. He pratically spoke one word to her in the whole conversation.

Her thoughts flew back to the first day they met. (Well, the first time both of them were conscious.) He had called her pretty, hadn't he? He ran away after she dared him to repeat it but...

Astrid sighed. Her mind was racing from thought to thought, like a train with no track...

That drawing was really good. He had captured a lot in one picture. It was a dragon- called a Night Fury, as it said at the bottom- and of course, it looked menacing. He paid close attention to the details, and every inch of the paper was covered. And the background was- wait, why was she noticing this?

Well, if she remembered clearly, she had once thought to herself that his stutter was cute.

Astrid winced. She had wanted to forget that.

What Ruffnut would give to know all that...

Why did she feel so against the idea of being his friend? He was nice to her, she certainly noticed him more...

Pride.

That was it.

x

"Hey."

Hiccup gave a hardworking Astrid Hofferson a lopsided grin. She was glaring at a problem, and given the fact the area around it was covered in erased marks, she had been fighting it for quite some time.

Astrid looked up at him, and her face relaxed. "Good, you're here. I thought I would've died right here doing this."

Hiccup let out a nervous laugh. "Wouldn't want that to happen, would we?"

Astrid grunted in agreement before resuming the problem in the minute Hiccup took to get himself settled.

After a good 15 minutes of battle with a mere problem, Astrid got the answer with Hiccup's guidance.

"That makes sense." Astrid grinned at him, "Thanks."

Hiccup slumped back into his chair and gave her a tired smile. "No problem."

Astrid skimmed the rest of the page. "Most of these are basically the same problem with different numbers. I'm going to try to do it myself."

That's Astrid Hofferson for you, always throwing herself head first in something.

"Go ahead. If you need help, I am at your service." Hiccup waved his hand as if she were to take it and bowed his head slightly.

Stealing one glance at his stance, she smirked. "Dork."

Hiccup crossed his arms and muttered, "Thank you for summing up my existence in one word."

"No problem, I am at your service." Astrid imitated Hiccup with a highly nasal voice, with similar actions.

Hiccup sat up in his seat and glared at her. "I do not sound like that! Why does everyone say I sound like that?! I don't!"

"You do."

"Do not."

"Do too."

"Do not."

Astrid opened her mouth to argue but then glanced at the clock. "You're distracting." She teasingly coughed. "Your _voice _is distracting. And annoying."

Hiccup gave her a dry look, his voice dripping in sarcasm. "Thank you."

Astrid turned to her work, leaving Hiccup alone to think. He watched her pencil work on the problems, erasing, writing and then erasing again. She was getting better. And as much as that made him happy and proud of her, he was saddened at that. Because if she became good at math, she wouldn't need to come to math help anymore. And if she didn't come... there goes all his ties to her. There goes his only hope getting his dream.

Like, he doesn't think she'll totally ignore him and forget him completely, because she's not shallow like that. Maybe she'll smile at him in the hallways. But that would be it.

"All done!" Astrid proclaimed happily, snapping Hiccup out of his daydream. She handed it over to him. "Check it."

He was still grinning despite the fact he mumbled, "So demanding."

And he checked it. With _her _red pen. It had that smooth red ink and it was shiny. He swear he spent at least 5 seconds simply admiring it, and the fact Astrid owned it, and she loaned it to him and he was holding _Astrid Hofferson's _red pen and-

Gods, he's whipped.

Astrid got about half of them right, and the others were arithmetic errors. He grinned at her improvement, and slapped the part of him that was like _That's it, better say goodbye to your dream now._

Hiccup clicked the red pen officially and looked up to hand the paper back to her. But not before he noticed she was staring at him.

"Uh," He cleared his throat and stared back at her, "You got-"

Astrid immediately blushed and cut him off. "Oh. Sorry, you were... so into the paper and I just..." She forced a laugh to ease the tension. "You looked so concentrated and yeah."

And yeah? What's that supposed to mean?

He needs an Astrid Hofferson manual, pronto.

x

Hiccup looked at her and his expression lightened. "Okay, um, well. No problem."

Three seconds of silence between them resided before he cleared his throat. "You got only these wrong," His fingers trailed over to the ones with x's on them, "But the rest are right. That's just about half." He gave her a warm smile.

"Really?" Astrid perked up happily, "Great! Just show me the ones I got wrong."

They were just stupid mistakes, like multiplying intergers and whatnot.

Astrid laid back in her seat and relaxed while he spoke. It was oddly comforting to be around him, like she didn't need to be the perfect Astrid Hofferson everyone expected her to be, who has everything under control. She can just be Astrid, who needs a little help in math because her grade isn't great, who laughs out loud at lame puns and that can excited over a problem she got right.

Hiccup finished talking and she found herself staring at his leg.

"What happened after you lost it?" She blurted out.

Great. He's probably sensitive about it and she's going to come off as some cold, nosy person. But...

His face grew uncomfortable and he scratched the back of his neck. "You probably don't want to know..."

"Please?" It's really none of her business, but she still gives him some sort of Astrid Hofferson version of puppy eyes.

He gave her a dry look before commenting, "You look exactly like Toothless right now."

She gave him a questioning look. "Who's Tooth-"

"Oh, my cat. The name is a long story." He waved it away.

"Well," Astrid flashed him a smile, "It's just that you never really struck me as a cat person."

She looked him up and down, considered the facts that he had sass and looked like that kid who had no social life and stayed home with a book and a cat.

Yup, he's a cat person.

"On second thoughts, you actually do look like a cat person."

Hiccup eyed her suspiciously. "Is that a good thing or..."

x

Astrid brushed her bangs away from her eyes and smirked. "It's whatever you want it to be."

Okay, he seriously needs that Astrid Hofferson manual. Can't get more cryptic than that.

"Well, when I was really, really young, my mom died and-"

"Really?" Her eyes softened. "I'm sorry about that. I never knew."

He gave her a lopsided smile and looked down, avoiding her eyes. "Thanks, I just, I don't remember her a lot since I wasn't even a year old... but my dad says I'm a lot like her so..."

He looked up at her and she nodded, encouraging him to continue.

"Well, one day, on the anniversary of... you know... my dad was talking about how she always wanted a cat. Because she loved animals a lot... and he sort of had that look in his eye, like... if he couldn't give her what she wanted, he'd do it for me... And that day, we went out and bought a little black kitten... And I named it Toothless."

Astrid was still smiling but then raised her eyebrow when he mentioned the cat's name. "Toothless? Like... that's really random. Is there some sort of meaning?"

Hiccup shook his head, grinning. "Nope. Since he was still a kitten, his teeth weren't completely grown in. And my dad said I saw him, jumped up and declared, 'Toothless! That cat is toothless!'" He imitated his four-year-old self, "And it stuck. And, that's it, really."

"Toothless." Astrid laughed. "That's some name for a cat."

He shot her a glare. "Hey, I was four. What do you want?" He buffed out his chest and deepened his voice (Well, tried to) saying, "This young Felis catus will now be named Shakespeare Alexander Washington The Third."

Astrid shook her head through her laugh. "You're something else."

Hold up. Did that mean something... Nah, he's overthinking, but...

Hiccup mentally scoured his Astrid Hofferson manual, only to find the words, _You will never understand women. Especially ones like Astrid Hofferson. Give up now. _

Yeah. It's not like he had any expectations to, anyway.

x

"And then I was in a coma for a while, but I got out, I think, three weeks after the accident? Physical therapy and all that fun stuff."

Astrid nodded. "I'm sorry about your leg. I mean, you're only fifteen and you already are a..." She trailed off, searching for a word.

He grinned. "A peg-leg?"

"Sure." She laughed, glancing at the clock. "I guess it's time to go."

He followed her eyes to the clock and nodded in agreement, packing away his stuff.

"Thanks for the help today. It means a lot to me... so thanks."

Hiccup awkwardly ran his hands through his hair, shrugging. "It's fine. I don't mind."

Astrid was about to say goodbye when he started to speak. "I, uh, I just wanted to say thanks... about what you said. About my picture, uh, earlier. I never did so..." He mumbled out, avoiding her gaze.

She really wished he'd stop doing that whenever he talked to her. His green eyes pierced her whenever they looked at her- No. It had absolutely _nothing_ to do with that.

"You're welcome," Astrid gave him a warm smile, "You really do draw really well."

He finally looked up at her, his green eyes-

_Shut up, _Astrid mentally hissed.

**_Author's Note_**

_WAIT!_

_I know you. You're that person that always skips the Author's Note. _

_STOP!_

_Please, please, PLEASE, read this for my sake:_

_I have two requests to ask you guys:_

_1) I'm working on another idea and I want to ask you guys if you know any good websites about Viking traditions concerning marriage. I want to be accurate but I can't find a good website online. I know the basic things (the dowry, etc) but not enough to write it. So it would mean a lot, even if you just talk about it in your review! Thanks. :D_

_2) Here's some shameless self-advertising: I created a new story "Frostbite On Your Spleen" in which every chapter is a different one-shot. Go check it out and review what you think! Thank you so much! :D_

_\- end of requests -_

_And I think we've finally reached the beginning level of their friendship. Yay!_

_Thank you for all the reviews! They mean SO much to me. :) Bye for now!_


	9. Some Things Aren't Just Black and White

**_Author's Note_**

_So sorry for the really late update. But I went through this chapter and I realized how choppy and undetailed my writing is. So I decided to add a little more to this chapter. _

_Fishlegs makes an appearance today! Anyway... did I ever say how much I love Ruffnut because writing her character is so much fun :D_

_Enough of my ramblings. (Well just until the author's note down below, which is always super long XD) _

_Enjoy!_

_**Disclaimer: Now for the pointless reminder that I don't own How To Train Your Dragon and its characters cause honestly, if I did, would I be posting my writing on a free website?**_

Astrid's heart danced for joy when a test paper entered her vision at the corner of her eye. It was about time Mrs. Duncan got around to grading them, and Astrid...

Astrid got a 96%.

She kept her cool, as always, self-assuredly smiling as she flipped through the packet. She only got 2 wrong. Relief flooded her and she let go of the breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Astrid was just so infatuated with the big red number at the top that she didn't notice the tiny scrawled out note at the bottom in red. It read "See me after class."

See me after class?

_See her after class?_

Is she kidding?

Well, _that_ just ruined everything. What could that old hag possibly want with her? She's finally picked up her grade, and she still has a problem? Of course she does. Gods forbid teachers want the best for their students.

Astrid felt her stomach drop and suddenly her mood turned sour pretty quick. She scowled as she stuffed the paper under her twenty pound textbook after being informed of the assigned page.

Stupid numbers, stupid math, stupid teachers.

At the end of class, Astrid walked over to her desk with a steady pace. She wasn't letting this get under her skin. The rest of the class chattered as they filed out of the classroom in groups and Astrid longed to be leaving as well.

"You wrote here to see you," Astrid spoke politely, "What did I do wrong?"

Mrs. Duncan peered at her over her glasses and then at the paper. "Ah yes," She said slowly, "Astrid Hofferson. I wanted to speak with you."

Astrid nodded, while inside she slowly struggled to keep her confidence under the teacher's steely look.

"You were doing quite poorly this whole semester. And in just _one_ test, you excelled with one of the best grades of the class," She smiled politely, "That puzzles me. It seems quite impossible... unless you had _help."_

Astrid swallowed. Where was she going with this?

"Yes, I did. I've been going to the math help every Friday, just like you suggested."

The teacher smiled again, as if Astrid were a small child who didn't understand, and replied slowly, "That's not what I meant. Are you sure you didn't... _cheat_ on the test?"

Fire boiled in her stomach. How _dare _she accuse her of something _low_ like that?

"I did _not _cheat!" Astrid replied hotly. "What proof do you have? Did anyone have the same grade around me? I'm not that kind of person!" She glared at her, not caring if it was deemed disrespectful.

"That's what they all say," She replied lightly, ignoring Astrid's flaming temper, "I think that most people reach their full potential a bit more _progressively, _especially if they had grades as low as yours to begin with."

Astrid bit back a nasty retort and the growing urge to get violent.

"I had a tutor, Hic- Henry Haddock, your best student. If you don't believe me, ask _him_." She hissed, clenching her fists.

The _snake_ walked over to the door and opened it, gesturing to the hallway. "I think we've talked enough for one day, right, Miss Hofferson? I'll see you tomorrow for class."

She acted so _polite, _so _respectful_, when she was so _ugly _inside.

"Have a nice day." She gritted her teeth and walked right out, and after the door closed behind her, Astrid muttered, "Witch."

x

The familiar murmur of distant conversation is something Astrid is used to during lunch. She's probably one of the most popular girls her age, but it's not like she cares anyway. And while most people would expect her to have many friends, Astrid only has one. And that one friend was debating with her that the number had changed to two.

After Astrid had sort of agreed, Ruffnut found the zone of "friends" no longer amusing. So she moved on to whatever comes next, much to Astrid's annoyment. This girl was stubborn and _annoying._

The blonde with three braids sat across from her, sipping her milkshake while grinning like an idiot.

"So, Astrid," Her eyes lit up with amusement, "We have yet to talk about your recent love life."

Astrid groaned and put her face in her hands in exasperation. "I'm not having this conversation with you._"_

The girl acted as if Astrid had not spoken and continued to talk. "I want all the juicy details-"

_"_Rachel Thorston, shut _up_ if you want to keep your lunch in your stomach._" _Astrid hissed, her voice rising in volume.

Ruffnut was the closest thing Astrid had as a friend. They weren't like normal friends, it was more of a tolerance for one another. And at the moment, Astrid's tolerance was slowly fading away.

Ruffnut shrugged nonchalantly, picking at her food. "Whatever floats your boat, Astrid, but I see all. You can't hide anything from me."

She rolled her eyes and considered eating her lunch somewhere else, where it was quiet, with no annoying Ruffnuts insisting on ridiculous things.

"I'm not going to keep talking to you like you're worth it," Astrid huffed, "Go away or find something else to do."

The girl across from her pretended to think for a minute (even if it was pretend, she couldn't for much longer) and then suddenly picked up her lunch and yanked on Astrid's arm, who barely had time to grab her half-eaten lunch with her before she was dragged to the end of the cafeteria, and shoved into a seat on one of the last tables.

Ruffnut had a devilish grin upon her face as she plopped into the seat across from Astrid, and she knew something was up.

"Ruffnut," She grunted, getting up again, "What are you up to now-"

Someone came up to the table.

"Oh- uh," He blinked, "Um, uh, hi?"

In response to Astrid's immediate glare towards him, the boy with green eyes took a step back and said quickly, "I usually, uh, you know, _sit _here, so..."

Ruffnut looked like a kid on Christmas, her eyes full of laughter and her grin wide as the moon. Well, until Astrid refocused her glare on Hiccup to her, visibly fuming. Ruffnut was so going to get it. Oh, the joke was on her.

Hiccup was still standing, terrified and unsure if he was allowed to sit at his own table.

"Go ahead, and sit down, Hiccup," Astrid replied sweetly back to him, but the venom in her eyes flared as she settled her glare on the said girl, "Ruffnut and I are just gonna go to the bathroom a minute to talk."

Hiccup seemed to hesitantly break out of his trance of shock and slowly sat down next to Astrid. He leaned back into it stiffly, glancing at the two girls with confusion. "Um, okay, about what?"

"Just girly stuff." Astrid yanked Ruff's arm in a similar way she did to her, and dragged her out of the cafeteria and towards the bathroom.

As soon as they stepped in, Ruffnut let loose that laugh she had been trying to contain. "Oh, _his face! _Pure _fear_! And you, oh, _your _reaction is so much more satif-"

Astrid punched her in the arm, but after fighting her twin 24/7, it didn't hurt in any way. But Astrid was dead serious. Ahem, emphasis on _dead. _

"If it wasn't for the law, you would be six feet under," she hissed, crossing her arms, "_Why _would you, of all the stupid idiotic thin-"

"Ha! Well good thing for my great Uncle Sam." Ruffnut grinned casually, pretending to check her nails. Astrid could never really intimidate her, and even though her nonchalance was seriously getting on her nerves, it was the reason they were friends. They weren't normal kinds of teenage girls; giggling and going shopping and everything of that sort. Well, Ruff did drag her shopping once but that was absolutely horrid for Astrid and remains forever in the past.

Astrid felt slightly immature after all the initial adrenaline passed. Even though she would never admit it, that was her weakness. Acting first without thought or evaluation of the situation.

"Ruff, I honestly don't care where you sit, but _I'm _going back to our table. Okay?"

It wasn't that she had anything against sitting at a different table. She never cared who she sat next to because she doesn't see the point in small talk or just unnessecary conversation in general. It was just because it was routine; it was normal. It was expected. And ever since Hiccup landed into her life it seemed like everything was out of proportion.

And Astrid liked having as much control over her own life as she can.

Without waiting for a response, she walked out and tried to push aside her anger as she made her way to the table.

Her anger. She was mostly angry at Ruffnut for generally being an idiot but she wasn't stupid; she knew there was more to it. Was she angry at the prospect of her and _Hiccup Haddock _dating? Her first reaction, yes of course. Ew.

But with more deliberation... there's something about the way her stomach flutters when she's around him that convinces her not to question the first answer.

It's safer that way.

x

Hiccup stared at his food intently. It was a ham and cheese sandwich. Ugh. He didn't necessarily _hate _them, but he bought the same one every single day of his whole life. (Well, okay, that's exaggerating a _little_) It was almost routine to eat them, and his mouth has been dulled to the point where he doesn't even taste anything anymore.

"Hiccup? Are you even listening?"

He looked up and saw Fishlegs, who was staring expectantly at him.

"Sorry, Fish, sort of out of it today, I guess."

"Anyway, I was saying that today in science we were talking about how cows have more than one stomach! When they eat it goes to the first stomach," The boy widened his eyes in fascination as he talked, "and then they reguritate it back into their mouth so they can break the food down more-"

Hiccup almost reguritated _his _food. "Fishlegs," He choked out, "I'm _eating_, for gods' sake."

The large boy sighed, looking deflated. "Sorry."

Hiccup almost never had lunch with him, because of their different schedules, and because Fishlegs sometimes (ahem, almost always) sacrificed his lunch period to go study for a test.

But today, not only did he have his company, but two other people as well. Well, _apparently_ he did. The two girls disappeared from the cafeteria and hadn't come back in for a very long time, but then again, he wasn't too sure how long it takes _Astrid Hofferson _and _Rachel Thorston _to talk about "girly stuff." (Note the sarcasm. Last time he checked, those girls didn't do _girly stuff._)

Before Hiccup could inquire about this thought, Astrid came through the two doors and walked straight to their table.

Speak of the devil.

She seemed slightly off, with her trademark scowl forever etched into her features. She marched straight for their table, seemingly made up her mind about something.

"Hey... look who's back." Hiccup looked up questioningly. She came to a halt and then it dawned on Hiccup that she wasn't sitting down.

"I'm going back to my table." Astrid replied smoothly, calm and collected as always. She picked up her lunch and turned around before he could mutter a "Leaving so soon?"

He wondered why she had been sitting at his table in the first place, and now she was leaving. He felt almost disappointed. Eh, she's Astrid. She couldn't possibly sit next to him.

Hiccup looked up at her meekly to watch her go, but instead he watched her pale. Like, she _visibly _paled. Hesitantly putting her lunch back on the table, she miserably (Ouch. He's that bad to be around?) settled back into the chair. Raising an eyebrow at her sudden change of heart, Hiccup turned around and _ohhh._

Snotlout- _ugh_\- and Tuffnut finally found their way to the cafeteria and selected the only empty table as the place they should grace with their presence.

"On second thought..." Astrid sighed, snapping him out of his thoughts when he turned back around.

He waved his hand in reassurance. "I understand."

Fishlegs, who had stayed surprisingly quiet the whole time, looked at the empty seat. "Where did Ruf-"

"Don't talk about her." Astrid snapped, glaring furiously at him, who then in return, held his hands up in surrender.

Something told Hiccup that the whole 'girly stuff' they supposedly talked about didn't go so well.

He watched her glare at her food, seemingly purposely avoiding looking at him. It was moments like these that made Hiccup crazy. Sometimes he feels like they're friends, or at least something along that line, and then sometimes he feels inferior next to her.

As he raised his sandwich to take a bite, a certain lanky blonde bounced into the area of his vision and slided next to Astrid, looking particularly happy, which only made the other girl deepen her glare.

Ruffnut's eyes landed on him and... smiled?

_Smiled?_

She never acknowledged his existence, like ever. (It's not like he wanted her to though) Hiccup glanced uncomfortably at Fishlegs, who was... _blushing_. Blushing? _Blushing? Francis Ingerman was blushing. Fishlegs the nerd whose only love was for books was blushing. _

This was new. This was very, very satisfying news. The only time Fishlegs blushed was after a sweaty volleyball game in Physical Education.

He stored this information for later processing, because he was definitely teasing him later.

But alas, the silence persisted. And now that he's snapped out of his thoughts, he realized Ruffnut was glaring at Fishlegs. Ouch.

"Where did _you _come from?" She pointed her finger accusedly across the table, "You're not supposed to be here."

Fishlegs looked up at her dumbfoundedly. Hiccup felt a pang of sympathy for his only friend. Being in Rachel Thorston's bad graces in not something to prioritize.

"I, uh, sit here someti-"

The girl rolled her eyes annoyedly, as if her frustration was well-justified. "The only reason I stalled in the bathroom was to give these two some alone time. And you," She said, crossing her arms in annoyance, "ruined it."

Hiccup froze mid-chew. _What was that supposed to mean? _

_What was that supposed to mean?_

Keeping his head down, he made sure there wasn't anyone else at the table that she could have meant.

Oh _gods_.

The only coherent thought he had was _don'tlookupdon'tlookupdon'tlookupdon'tlookupdon'tlookup, _and an mental thanking to Fish for not responding.

Ruffnut seemed to be the only one that was unfazed by this statement, but he did not _dare _look at Astrid.

Astrid was proba- no. Astrid was a dangerous topic... Hiccup tried everything to block out every thought that surrounded that statement.

Food. Hiccup stared at the only object he could've looked at, since he was staring downward, as if his life depended on it. (And it very much could, knowing Astrid)

Napkin. Soda. Aluminum Foil. Food. Straw. Ham and cheese sandwich. Lunch. Food. Food... is good. Food is safe. Food is very nice. He should think about food more often. How very wonderful and _safe-_

Ruffnut broke the tense and awkward silence with a stifled sound of pain. He didn't need to think twice about why.

x

Time went on, and Hiccup zoned out. He was never good at conversations anyway. But he's awesome at weird invention things so that's what he does in his free time. (Yeah, he's sad like that)

Well, he's got to do something in all that spare time he has at lunch. Most people talk. Not Hiccup.

Hiccup has socializing issues.

So he could just draw. Or he could make a dragon out of foil. Or he could make a superhero out of his foil... and his water bottle.

Hm. Interesting.

He smoothed out his aluminum foil with his bottle cap until all the little wrinkles came out. It was so cool to watch.

Sastified, he folded it in half and wrapped it around his water bottle until it formed some sort of cape around the bottle. It looked absolutely _stunning_ so far.

Okay, now for the face. Hiccup pondered over using foil again, but then decided on using the cap since it was circular.

After he unearth a black sharpie from the convenient black hole in his backpack, he doodled a little face on the cap and propped it up on the foil so it leaned on the rim of the bottle.

He grinned at his creation and was about to draw cute little arms on the side when _plop!_

Hiccup looked up annoyedly at Fishlegs, who just slammed a book on the table and now was flipping furiously through the pages for who knows what reason. Rolling his eyes, Hiccup was just about to return to his work when he noticed.

The little cap head came off.

"Awh, Fish," He sighed while wringing his hands out, "It's de_cap_itated!"

As usual, the boy brushed the amazing pun (C'mon, that was pretty good. Even by his standards, which are really low. He's a sucker for puns) off with a raise of an eyebrow, as if saying _Are you really serious?_

Hiccup accidentally glanced at Astrid who was silently laughing through her fingers. It was cute, actually.

Cute? Astrid Hofferson, _cute?_ The world is ending.

She had been absorbed in a conversation with Ruffnut, seemingly forgetting momentarily all the 'girly stuff' (he has yet to believe that.) But somehow she had noticed the pun and ahh, the déjà vu.

He grinned lopsidedly at her, his heart bursting in just five seconds of eye contact.

If Hiccup would've paid attention to Ruffnut, he would've noticed her grinning evily at the two of them.

But Astrid did notice Ruffnut so she quickly switched into her fierce, emotionless demeanor and shrugged.

Ah, cause see, she's got a reputation to uphold. The I-hate-puns facade.

"It wasn't funny."

"The fact you at least looked _slightly _amused a couple of seconds ago begs to differ."

"Have I ever told you how annoying you are?"

"I'm not sure."

"Well, I'm telling you now."

"Well," Hiccup sighed, "I'm pretty sure my superhero, though fallen and beheaded by _someone_," He coughed in Fishlegs' direction, who rolled his eyes in response, "Would've thought I was pretty awesome."

He could see the hint of a smile behind the line her mouth formed, and it was cute-

Cute? Again with the cute. How does Astrid Hofferson do things to cause him to think she's cute?

He involuntarily flash backed to the now labeled "Ruffnuts Incident" and resisted the growing blush on his cheeks as he went through it again in his mind.

"Well, your superhero was a combination of plastic and foil. I don't see how it's approval of you is worth anything." Ruffnut commented lightly.

The word foil sparked his imagination.

"Ah," He glanced fondly at the creation, "My plans to have acceptance have been _foil_ed again."

Ruffnut just rolled her eyes. Fishlegs just groaned from the other side of the table because he was at the point, after being Hiccup's only friend and therefore only source of people to use puns on, where he was absolutely, positively done with Hiccup's puns.

Astrid blinked at him repeatedly to show him her annoyance.

"Sorry, guys, forgot you don't like puns." He waved his hands apologetically (Not. He's never sorry.) "But I'm quite a master at puns. Fishlegs would know. Right, Fishlegs?"

"Nobody likes your lame puns, Hiccup." was the reply that came absentmindly as he continued to be absorbed in whatever book he was reading.

He sighed. "Except me, I guess."

But his mind flashbacked to a certain night when he was texting a certain blonde and he just _see_ the laughing emojis across his screen again.

x

The bell rang for the end of lunch, and without another word, Astrid took off, with Ruffnut trailing after her. (But not after she winked at Hiccup and he's seriously scared.)

"Hiccup, you should finish that." Fishlegs frowned at his half-eaten sandwhich that was being taken to a trash can.

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "But, _Mom,-"_

_"_You're wasting perfectly good food."

"But I, unlike cows," He held up his finger in order to make a point, "Don't have more than one stomach." Hiccup paused as he glanced at his unappetizing lunch. "But I'd still throw it up."

"Not funny, Hiccup."

"Hey, you tell me things and I turn it into jokes. It's just how I operate."

Fishlegs nodded in agreement. "Sad, but true."

x

The clock read 7:56 PM and Astrid reread the sheet for the fourth time that night in hopes it could make more sense.

_Use the acrylic black and white paint to create an abstract piece of art that incorporates an equal amount of each color. _

What does that even _mean_?

Astrid doesn't do art. She never did, never will. But despite this, Berk High requires freshman to take it for a year.

The only paint she's ever used is the Crayola paint that she painted sunny days and flowers with when she was in preschool. She only uses pencils in math. Art was always something she could not master, nor did she have the will to master it; so she stayed away from it.

But now she doesn't have a choice. She picked up the black and white tubes she bought last week when the project had been assigned. She had wandered in the store for at least twenty minutes before she reluctantly asked a store manager where the acrylic paint was. It sat in its bag all weekend, collecting dust in its shiny new wrapper. But it was due tomorrow and Astrid was _not _handing it in late just because she didn't want to do it. Anyway, she never backed down from a challenge. Even if it was something she's not familiar with.

Why black and white? Could there be more contrasting colors? Why not blue and green, or red and orange? Her lack of talent combined with such boring colors was bound to be a complete failure. It just didn't make _sense. _Logically speaking, black and white don't go together well.

As Astrid slided her brush awkwardly across the page, she felt foolish for the first time in a long time, like she didn't know what she was doing. (Cause she didn't.) She knew she was and never will be good at painting or drawing. And she felt stupid using fancy things like _acrylic paint _and stuff.

So it began. Even though she was reluctant to, even though it wouldn't be anything at first. Even though the two colors weren't similar at all, even though they contrasted greatly.

And she didn't know it yet, because she didn't see the whole picture, but black and white... actually do look nice together.

**_Author's Note_**

_1) Ahhh. I love this last bit here, the black and white paint is a total metaphor of Astrid and Hiccup. Tell me in the reviews if you picked that up! Black and white are so different, but still look good together. Despite the fact Astrid doesn't know that yet and that she's reluctant to 'paint', it'll be worth it in the end. Logically speaking, Hiccstrid would never work because of their polar personalities but then again, Hiccup always manages to do the impossible anyway XD_

_2) I would like to thank __Chancey74__, __qwq__qweqq__, and __Sarnakh the Sunderer__ (who led me to Cke1st) which all led me to the Viking Answer Lady! It has helped me a lot, and I thank all of you for that. :D _

_3) I will be posting that new story soon, so hopefully you will consider reading it! It would mean soo much!_

_4) I would also like to thank all the guest reviewers! There were quite a few and I thank you for that. SHOUTOUTS:_

_Richelle Cryer__ (guest): Thank you so much for your review! It means so much to me :D :)_

_Winter Frolics__ (guest): Thank you thank you thank you! That's so nice of you :) Haha, glad you liked the puns. Thanks again! I hope I will reach your expectations :D_

_5) TO ALL YOU NICE PEOPLE: If you have any ideas/requests/scenes for this story, I am totally open to suggestions! _

_6) I hate to be annoying... I updated "Frostbite On Your Spleen" and it got only about 5 reviews. I hate to be that person but I worked really hard on that oneshot and it would mean a lot if you checked it out :)_

_7) Just a little thank you to all you readers... you are amazing. It makes my day to see reviews and I appreciate you guys so much! _

_Until next chapter! :)_


	10. Cupcakes, Cats and Cons-purr-acies

**_Author's Note_**

_GUYSGUYSGUYSGUYSGUYSGUYS I HIT 100 REVIEWS! THANK YOU SO MUCH! THIS IS HUGE FOR ME! In just 10 chapters, this is amazing for my first fanfic! Thank you to all you amazing people who take the time to review every chapter! You motivate me to write more chapters! Thank you again! Now I'm overusing the exclamation point! But I'm very excited! Haha!_

_The first bit here at the top of this chapter has been inspired by an idea given by Sa-Shame8910 with a bit of a twist. Thanks again! :) And somebody requested that I do another scene where they text, so there's that too! _

_**IMPORTANT NOTICE: **__I will not have wifi until the beginning of September, so I will probably won't be able to respond to all your reviews right away but I will as soon as I do! Thank you for understanding. _

_I apologize for the lack of flow with this chapter. The transitions between each section are very blunt. XD_

**_Disclaimer: I don't think I need to remind you that I don't own How To Train Your Dragon and its characters but hey, all those smart people in the government do. _**

The month had gone by and Astrid was able to resume her swimming again. Which she was very pleased about. It had been a very long month.

Which was _exactly_ what went through her mind as she watched Hiccup fall down the stairs.

She hadn't even seen him at first. She was stuffing things in her locker, thinking about stuff, when there was a loud noise. It was the first day of school all over again.

And naturally, as did everyone else did, she turned and looked.

She felt the déjà vu. This time, from the day she watched Snotlout kick him. She's been here before. People staring, people who don't care, people moving on with their lives.

She has definitely been here before.

His books were sprawled on the ground with his open backpack laying nearby. He had been on the second step to the ground, so it wasn't that bad of a fall.

But he was clutching his leg and biting his lip in pain.

The one that _wasn't_ there. But nobody else knew that.

Well, besides Fishlegs, but his locker wasn't on this floor.

She could go help him. Or she can bury herself under the mass of people and be another passive, invisible person.

What matters? Her reputation? Or Hiccup- she's his so-called friend?

_You know what? _She thought to herself, _I don't even care anymore. _

She walked over to him, ignoring people's stares.

He barely gave her a nod of recognition. And now that she was right there, she could see the pain etched in his face. She didn't even bother asking him what was wrong. Silently, she helped him up and started in the direction of the nurse's office.

x

Hiccup ended up going home. He honestly couldn't take it anymore. More than once, he felt like crying out. But he didn't.

The doctor had warned him about phantom pains. He had experienced them before. But the gods knew it had never gotten that bad.

All he knew is that it struck him as he was walking down the stairs to fourth period. It felt like a million knives piercing his leg and then being set on fire afterword. Not pleasant at all.

Which has now brought him to his sofa, where his father was carefully wrapping his stump. It was silent throughout the whole house- as it usually is. Hiccup fidgeted with his fingers.

"Hey, Dad?"

"Yes, son."

"Th-thanks. For, you know, coming from work."

Stoick looked up and gave him a tired smile."You don't need to thank me."

Hiccup smiled back.

Later on, his father left because he still had mayor-ly work to get done before he came home for the night. Toothless had jumped up on the sofa and was now cuddling with Hiccup, which was kind of pathetic. You know. _The loser sits at home, alone as always, and pets his cat. _Though, Hiccup smiled down at Toothless and appreciated the fact that he was enjoying those _very _few times when Toothless wasn't a sassy spoiled brat. More like a sassy spoiled _cat._

So, home alone, he was left to dwell in his thoughts through the silence, besides the occasional purr.

When Hiccup was smaller, he'd usually stay with his dad's friend, Gobber (who also happened to be the sports coach at his high school) for all the times he had no one to look after him.

But sometimes in the summer, when he had no school and Gobber wasn't around, his dad would bring him to his mayor-ly office in his mayor-ly building. And Hiccup would jump around, spin around on his sectretary's chair, causing all kinds of minor trouble and whatnot, bothering Stoick while he was trying to focus. ("I'm hungry, Daddy!" "We had lunch an hour ago, Hiccup." "My belly doesn't think so!")

And he'd always remind Hiccup he had a lot of work to do, and he'd have to wait. He'd have to go sit on one of the chairs and play quietly.

And little Hiccup would always feel sad, because he always had a lot of energy that was bursting to be used and curiousity bursting to be satisfied. But at the end of the very long day, he'd get to walk out of the very big building holding his daddy's hand and everything was right in the world.

He didn't have to. He could've stuck him with a daycare to watch him from morning to night. It certainly would've been an easier choice for Stoick.

But he didn't. He put up with Hiccup. He had always put up with Hiccup. He was more often than not an annoyance to the burly man, but he still loved him.

His father came all the way from work to pick him up, go to the doctor, come home and help him feel comfortable. His father and him are very different people; they don't communicate properly most of the time. But as Hiccup sat on his sofa alone, he understood something. That no matter how much work he has, no matter how much he doesn't understand him... his father always puts him first.

x

_A: hey, what happened today? you ok?_

_H: Hey thanks for asking, I'm okay. it was phantom pains. which basically makes me feel like I have my foot again- which isn't really pleasant_

_A: that sucks. sorry for your loss._

_H: Thanks haha_

_H: wAIT WAS THAT A PUN_

_H: CAUSE I LIKE_

_H: LOST_

_H: MY LEG_

Three minutes passed slowly.

_A: I just got it and_

_A: that was completely unintentional no hiccup I haven't sunk down to ur level_

_H: You just killed all my hopes and dreams. _

_A: I'm completely unapologetic _

_H: if I say I'm having phantom pains rn would you pity me?_

_A: no_

_H: PITY ME_

_H: PLS_

_A: isn't that what a cat is for?_

_H: Well I've got one of those_

_A: haha. but seriously it went away now right? how are you doing now?_

_H: Phan-tastic, thank you! In fact I'm feeling like I could run a marathon right now!_

Astrid mentally slapped herself. How did she not see that coming?

_A: I honestly have no idea how to respond to that_

_H: I honestly have no idea how you were responding up to now, but basically you just click the little white letters on your keyboard, click send, and violà! You've responded!_

She rolled her eyes. He thought he was sassy or something. Astrid glanced at the top of her too-bright-for-night phone screen where the time was. 11:48.

_A: thank u captain obvious. but it's like tomorrow go get ur beauty sleep gods know you need it :P_

_H: Wow, Astrid. Thank you for that vote of confidence. Anyway- I can't go to sleep if someone keeps texting me, right?_

_A: Don't blame your incompetence on me!_

_H: I can, and I will. _

_A: your defiance will get you killed_

_H: Correction: your violent nature will get me killed_

_A: Don't imitate my responses._

_H: Is this another rule in the Astrid Hofferson Handbook that I'm not aware of?_

_A: There are many rules in the Handbook that your obviously not aware of_

_H: Elighten me, Astrid. _

_A: 1) don't tell puns_

_H: BUT_

_A: 2) don't even think of telling me puns _

_H: BUT PUNS ARE MY LIFE_

_A: that's why you're going to lose it soon_

_H: Was that a death threat I smell?_

_A: yes because u haven't followed the rules correctly_

_H: Does that make me a rebel and you the ruler_

_A: gods above_

_A: hiccup_

_A: hiccup_

_A: hiicccuuppp_

_H: Yes Astrid that's my name, congratulations you finally remembered it_

_A: I will come to u in the middle of this night and strangle you with my bare hands_

_H: but but_

_H: what happened to the no violence policy_

_A: haha I don't remember signing that ur on ur own sucker_

_H: I like living though_

_A: too bad :)_

_H: Toothless has claws you know he'll defend me_

_A: I've never seen Toothless but I'm sure he would switch to my side_

A minute later, she got a picture: a completely black cat laying at the edge of a bed, brooding. It came with the caption: _In all honesty Toothless would ditch me in a heartbeat_

_A: shut up hiccup and don't bad mouth ur cat. look at that adorable face I'll take him if he doesn't want u anymore!_

_H: Great so you're both ganging up on me? _

_A: Yes_

_H: So you're in a cons-purr-acy against me_

_A: seriously hiccup_

_A: another reason why me and toothless will take you down_

_H: *toothless and I_

_A: oh shut up we both haven't been using proper capitalization or punctuation this whole time and you didn't have a problem, but now you do?_

_A: hypocritical. _

_H: Says the person who supposedly is my friend but steals my cat and plans to take me down. _

_H: Hypocritical. _

_A: I'm completely unapologetic._

x

The first swim championship for her team was that Saturday, and naturally, Astrid was excited. They were having a bake sale that afternoon to fund the trip there. While it wasn't particularly a _bad _or poor school, Berk High was not rich. And the price was a bit too high for the school to pay on their own.

Astrid couldn't bake- even if she wanted to. And she definitely didn't want to. On the walk to school, she picked up three boxes of cupcakes, which now she was currently regretting. Astrid scowled as she felt her grip loosen on the box at the bottom. It was pathetic, she fumed, that those stupid round balls of sugar and fat with artificial and barely editable, colorful smiling faces on top couldn't get themselves to the pathetic building. Stupid smiley faces. She was feeling the exact opposite of smiley at the current moment.

Astrid silently cursed that stupid bakery place. The boxes didn't need to be that huge! The cupcakes would've fit fine in smaller boxes! But no, let's complicate her life even more. She huffed and tried to lean to the side to get a view of where she was going. A block and a half away. On the topic of cursing people, she also decided to give others that honor as well. She cursed her stupid excuse for a mother for not being like a normal mother and not driving her to school if she needed help. Stupid bakery, stupid mom. Hm, what could be add on to the list? Screw her life, screw walking, screw _the stupid still smiling cupcakes, _screw her swimming team, screw swimming, screw school, screw _everything. _

_And most of all, stupid grip! _(or rather, the lack of)

_Okay, Astrid,_ She closed her eyes and forced herself to calm down, _Just breathe in, breathe out. _

Only a few minutes went by when the blonde grunted in frustration as she felt her hands about to slip. And she could already see everything tumbling to the floor. Oh, and then she'll would react _much _worse than just thinking of things she feels at the moment should burn in hell.

On that positive note, the cupcakes did not tumble out of her hands, and for a brief moment she was surprised.

"Oh, watch it. They're gonna fall."

Astrid didn't even have to lean over to see who it was. Who else had that stupid nasal voice that he had?

"Oh thanks. Couldn't tell." She grumbled sarcastically.

"_Somebody's_ in a bad mood." She could pratically hear him rolling his eyes. "Want me to help? There's a block left."

With a scowl, she handed off a box to him and continued walking without a second thought. He had looked like he was about to offer to hold two but she had stopped him with a glare. She handled three boxes the whole time; she could handle two stupid boxes for a stupid block. He caught up with her brisk pace and walked alongside her. "Are you mad at me? Cause you seem mad."

She stopped short. Okay, so maybe she was taking the cupcake problem out on him. "It's just these stupid cupcakes. I'm not in a good mood."

He glanced at her from the side and smiled weakly. "What are they for?"

"Bake sale to fund the trip to our swim championship." Three quarters of the block left.

"Ooo, cool! Good luck!"

"Thanks." Astrid hoisted the two boxes up. Better than before, but still. She swore cupcakes off for the rest of her life.

"When's the bake sale?"

Did anyone ever tell him how annoying he is? Always asking questions.

"Afterschool."

"Awesome. I'll have my money ready."

She felt her gratitude rise up in her chest- he knew how much swimming meant to her. But she simply nodded her thanks.

As they approached the school, he glanced at her through the boxes. "Where are we putting these?"

_Oh, I don't know,_ Astrid rolled her eyes mentally, _where else would you put food?_

"Cafeteria. Where else?" She tried hard not to sound annoyed.

But he must of heard it in her tone, because he had the decency to look sheepish. "The faculty room?" He offered up weakly, but she shot it down with a dry look. "Cafeteria, okay. That would make sense."

He pushed open the door with one hand and after he had gotten in, he held it for her. "Thanks." she mumbled, trying to balance the two boxes while trying to see where she was going. She made her way to the back- where the refrigerators were and stuff. She heard the door slam closed and his footsteps as he scurried to catch up with her.

x

"Hiccup! Oh my gods!" She jumped up and slapped his arm in excitement. They had been a bit early and there were a couple minutes left until they had to enter that hell- whoops, she meant school. They had been standing next to each other in mildly awkward silence when Astrid remembered something. He was her math tutor and she hadn't told him the grade she got on her math test!

He turned to her, rubbing his arm while giving her a look of discontent. "What's the matter now?"

Astrid grinned wholeheartedly. "It's been _days_ and I forgot to tell you the grade I got on that math test!"

His eyes lit up in anticipation and he immediately stopped rubbing his arm. (Funny how that works. He's been faking hurt this whole time, that son of a half troll.) "Right! What'd you get?"

"96!" She replied happily, putting her hands on her hips.

His smile reached his eyes. "Oh my gods, Astrid! That's amazing, I'm so proud of you."

Astrid beamed at him and then laughed. "I couldn't do it without you."

She suddenly felt a pair of bony arms being wrapped around her- _what_?

Hiccup was hugging her.

_He was hugging her. _

Her body went stiff, as it was unexpected, but she couldn't help but feel little sparks everywhere. She didn't quite know how to respond, and by the time she realized she should probably hug him back, he had already pulled away.

He awkwardly ran his hands through his hair and avoided eye contact. "I'm s-sorry, I didn't mean-"

Astrid cut him off with a punch.

He was always so fidgety. Gods, it was annoying.

"Shut up, Hiccup, for once, and relax. I haven't killed anyone. Yet." She added with a smirk.

He only rubbed his arm (Again. Being the little half troll he was) and smiled weakly in response.

x

She didn't have lunch with Ruffnut at the same time today, so Astrid slumped in her usual spot and sighed. She noticed Hiccup sitting alone at his usual table, and for a split second she thought about joining him, but she shook the thought away. She needed to think about more important things.

Okay. Swim competition on Saturday. Their last practice was today, after the bake sale. Well, she should be fine. As long as she maintained the speed she had, she'll do fine. But Gobber had said that-

A lunch tray clattered on the opposite side of her. She looked up to see who it was and... _ughhh. _

It was Snotlout. _Of course._

Okay. Hiccup was sounding ten times better right now.

She really hadn't missed him. And there was no Tuffnut to be seen that could occupy him. She didn't need this distraction!

"Hey, babe."

Astrid groaned and dropped her fork. "I hate you, leave me alone!" To someone else, her greeting might've come off as rude or nasty, but with his thick skull? Might as well get straight to the point.

He sat down and gestured to the whole cafeteria. "Astrid, look at all the hot girls I could be chasing right now! But you know I only have eyes for you."

She felt like throwing up. "Yeah, I noticed that I'm the only one cursed."

"You love me. You're just playing hard to get. It's okay, Astrid. I know I'm irresistible."

_Why _was she still sitting here?

Snotlout sent her that stupid, arrogant smile and she felt all the warmth slither out of her and then by the force of habit, she scowled and glared at the table.

And then it hit her over the head. She's _always _like this. She's always cold and... hostile and doesn't care about anyone else.

And then she thought about Hicccup, how he made her laugh and how he was genuinely happy for her and she can just _feel _his arms sending sparks through her again when he hugged her. The way he gave her those lopsided smiles and ran his fingers through his hair... the way he cared. The way he was thoughtful and he _knew _her. The real her.

And then she felt herself smile, all because she lost herself in a memory.

Why was she still sitting here again?

So she grabbed her tray and walked away from everything she used to be and then she's sitting across from him. He stuttered out a weak hello and his baffled smile comes through his emerald eyes, and he pushed his hair from his face. And the warmth comes back again, and her stomach fills with butterflies she can't explain, taking flight and she can't help but feel utterly _free, _free of requirements and expectations and limitations and...

And that's when it hits her. In full force.

His green eyes suddenly felt so _vibrant_, so wide and she wondered how she never got lost in them before.

They pierced her world, her _walls_, and suddenly the last crack is made and it's just enough to send them all crashing down. One by one, every guard she ever put up against the world was shattered and she was left with nothing to defend herself.

And he's sitting right there, innocently picking at his food, awkwardly, unaware of what he's done.

Because the walls that were supposed to protect her ended up only trapping her and now they were crumbling to the feet of a simple glance. The walls that stood everything, that _lasted_ through everything, that never had even cracked even at the lowest points of her life.

Ice collided with emerald and every bit of crystal shattered and sparked the downfall.

And honestly, as he peers up at her, obviously struggling for the confidence to ask why she decided to randomly appear at his table and just stare at him when she should be asking _him_ why he decided to just randomly appear in her life and tear down every wall she had...

She decides she doesn't really mind.

**_Author's Note_**

_I think we've reached a milestone in their relationship. You know, seeing Astrid just acknowledged her feelings for him. *hiccstrid fans clap and confetti falls and the world explodes with happiness* _

_A math session should be in next chapter! Astrid's doing okay, so she might not need it. Maybe there's another motive to why she's still going... ;P_

_**PLEASE PLEASE CHECK OUT MY NEW HTTYD STORY, "SAVAGE SEAS"**__ It would mean THE WORLD to me! It's Hiccstrid too. It would be so amazing if you checked that out! Thank you SOO much in advance! :D I love all my readers so much!_

_Review Info:_

_In response to a guest reviewer, I am a girl. And to make a FF account is free! Lol. _

_There were, uh, quite a few interesting guest reviews between the last chapter and this one... I'm still slightly confused with what's going on, but there seems to have been some things going on between guest reviewers. Thank you to those who defended me, but I want to politely ask that this does not happen again. My review area is not a battlefield. XD_

_For future reviews, please keep all of them __revelant to the story you are reviewing__. And while I am grateful for every single review, I just want to ask you to please don't curse in your reviews the same way I don't use curses in my story. They don't encourage me in any way to write any faster. Thank you._

_SHOUTOUTS:_

_Winter Frolics__ (guest): Awww, thank you thank you thank you! You're too kind :) Thank you for checking Frostbite On Your Spleen out!_

_Sir Baron__ (guest): Glad you like it! Thank you, that's exactly what I was aiming for. Lol. Thanks for reading and reviewing!_

_fanficlover121_ _(guest): Lol, you said and predicted the whole story! XD Hiccup and Astrid are friends, then will come to terms with their feelings, then you know what comes afterward. :P But it's a very slow process. That's why, at Chapter 10, Astrid has just acknowledged her feelings for him, though, she's felt them in previous ones. They will kiss, lol. Eventually XD Thank you!__Glad you liked Hiccup's puns :D _

_MY FELLOW HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON PEOPLE. 4 WORDS:_

_RACE. TO. THE. EDGE__. (spoilers ahead. you've been warned. and if you've haven't seen RTTE, I demand that you stop reading fanfiction and GO WATCH IT AT THIS PRESENT SECOND) (if you don't have Netflix, I know a website, just ask)_

_It is soo AMAZING! I love their sarcasm, it's hilarious! I love the plot so much! The TV show has definitely improved since the beginning episodes. I'm so impressed, I couldn't stop watching! aLSO CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE FACT THAT HEATHER AND ASTRID HAD A GIRL TO GIRL TALK ABOUT BOYS THE WORLD IS ENDING. Oh, Astrid's in denial. XD BUT HICCUP HAS 2 BRAIDS IN HIS HAIR! Astrid, you've crossed too many lines to say 'just friends' I think they were at that tense stage of their relationship, where it was something more than just friends but they hadn't put a label on it yet. Like, between-the-lines sometimes flirting and stuff. After all, they're 17/18 in that. We know that in two/three years they'll be dating. SHE PUT HER ARMS AROUND HIM AT THE END, I WAS CRYING IN FEELS BY THEN. AND THEY WERE SITTING ON THE BEACH TOGETHER IN ONE EPISODE AHH. They're adorable. I can't :D _

_Okay this is longer than it should be, I'm sorry XD I really want that next batch of 13 episodes!_

_Also, check out CreativeWriter96, who is awesome and reviewed many times for this story! :D _


	11. Hiccup's Birthday

_**Author's Note**_

_HEY LOOK WHO UPDATED... long time no see. I believe it's been a year, oh gosh. I really have been really busy. You guys deserve so much more from me, I'm so so sorry. Thank you for all the support that this story really doesn't deserve. Stay tuned for the end author's note for more excuses. _

_I really meant to post this towards the end of __**February**__, and that's where this takes place. Again, so so so sorry. _

Snow. Little snowflakes landed all over her- her hair, her jacket, and her shoes. Astrid hated it. Walking home in a flurry was a struggle in itself. Besides the fact it got all over her, her fingers and every other part of her body were like ice when she got home. Sure, it was pretty to look at and whatever but once the snow trucks came by and pushed it all at the side, it just got in the way. The cars that drove by turned it dark and slushy. Snow just put her in a bad mood. She never liked it, never will.

It was just about the beginning of February, and the town of Berk was receiving its first snow of the winter season. Hiccup had told her that morning when they discussed it how much he liked snow, and it evolved into a heated debate over the said type of precipitation. They walked to and from school together almost every day now, except for the days he overslept and told her not to wait. They were comfortable around each other now, it was just so easy to be around him. Astrid scrunched up her nose as she tried to strategically get over the heaping pile of snow that was pushed on the side of the road. As much as she despised the snow, she didn't mind the cold much. It was oddly comforting in the way it bit at her bare skin.

Kept her alive.

x

Friday rolled around and that meant Astrid was stuck staring at a math problem. She sort of understood it- she knew the technical rules on how to solve it, but there were just so many areas where a little mistake could be made, that threw off the whole problem. She complained to Hiccup about this, to which he responded, "Astrid, math isn't black and white like every other subject. You can't just memorize facts, you have to understand what the problem asks, and respond appropriately," He sighed from beside her. "I know," She rolled her eyes, "That's why I'm here." They worked together for a while on multiple problems, because, as Hiccup said, "through repetition, she could limit the chances of making those little mistakes." Or whatever.

She was just finishing up the last question when he commented offhandedly, "My birthday is this month."

"Oh really," She responded absentmindedly, "What day?"

"Towards the end of February."

Astrid looked up at him with an amused look, "Yeah. What exact day?"

"Around the end."

"How close to the end?"

Hiccup just stared at her, and with a very long face, he sighed, "February 29th."

Astrid burst out laughing, "So you were born in a leap year!"

He grimaced, "Yes. Can we move on?"

"No!" She wiped away nonexistent tears, "That's hilarious. That means you're only technically... three years old?"

He glared at the blonde next to him. "Go ahead and tear down any self-confidence I had."

"Okay, okay. I'm stopping." He was smiling too, despite trying to sustain an angry face.

"You'll never let me live that down, will you?"

"Of course not, " Astrid smirked.

"All right, all right, get back to the problem. I want to get home before five if you hurry up."

She returned to the problem, finishing it up, but continued to pester Hiccup because that was what she was good at. "So tell me, what's it like having a birthday after so many years?"

He glared dryly at her. "I suppose you find this amusing. But it won't be after I make you complete another packet."

Astrid opened her mouth in mock horror. "Oh wow, you've let the power get to your head, haven't you? A bit of a tyrant."

The boy next to her crossed his arms. "So what if I have?"

She rolled her eyes and jabbed him with her elbow. "I know you won't because you want to get out of here as soon as possible, and if you made me do more work, I'll make sure we stay here a good two hours more." She smiled devilishly and passed her packet to him. "Check the last problem quick and let's get out of here."

"Aye aye, milady."

She collected her books, and after he confirmed she did the problem right, they made their way out of the school.

"Ugh, the snow hasn't melted yet since Tuesday. And it's disgusting." Astrid muttered as she stepped in a puddle of slush as the two of them crossed the street. The sky was gray and cloudy, obviously still recovering from their storm that Tuesday.

"Okay, I can see your point now. But you have to admit that generally snow is beautiful."

She wrinkled her nose. "No. The ugly of every day after the snow comes down overpowers the pretty sight of the first day."

Hiccup protested, "But we get a day off from school if there's a lot of snow! You have to give in to that."

She rolled her eyes at him.

x

The text arrived shortly after Hiccup swapped his alarm that told him he overslept and he's gonna pay for that when his tiny fishbone legs have to scurry him to school. He didn't even need to look at the contact name to know who it was.

_happy 4th birthday hic ;)_

He sighed. He wasn't sure what he was more annoyed about- the fact she once again reminded him he was _technically _four years old today or the fact she called him 'hic.'

_um thanks I guess_

He put his phone on his dresser and quickly pulled out his favorite t-shirt (of a dragon. Don't laugh, he's four, okay?) and the pants he wore yesterday. As he sighed at his rushed appearance, his eyes flickered over to his alarm clock. _7:21. _

He ran to the bathroom and was out about four minutes later, shoving Toothless off his prosthetic after he jumped on it. With a quick goodbye from his father ("Happy birthday, son!" "Thanks, Dad. Now, I'm _really _late, gotta go-" "You're growing up so fast-" "Um sure, Dad, like I've grown an inch since I was thirteen." "Well, you are technically four-" "BYE, DAD!") he ran out and checked his phone. _7:32_.

Hiccup sighed. It could've been worse.

He idly noticed he had a new notification from Astrid, and eventually gave in the temptation to check it. He's made a point to never, _ever _walk on the street while on his phone, because well, last time he tried that- He lost his left leg.

_But_ it was Astrid, and well, he couldn't just leave her hanging. He was on a long sidewalk anyway, as long as no cars swerved off the road and into him, he should be fine and not be hit.

_gosh hiccup, don't sound too grateful_

He sent a quick reply back (_and why would I be grateful_) and tucked his phone in his pocket. The air was chilly and sharp, keeping him awake and his mind open. From this point on, he was closer to be twenty than ten, his mind reminded him, because this was a great time to be all emo about growing up. He figured turning fifteen was a big deal, but it felt like every other day he overslept. His father was going to buy him a cake that was too big for two people to eat, and he was going to spend yet another year blowing out candles, wishing for something they couldn't have- that his mother could be there. The day was a bit of a bittersweet reminder for the both of them of their incomplete family. There was someone missing to take the pictures, to join the single voice of his father in song.

They liked to keep it quiet, just the two of them. Contrary to his cousin Snotlout, who invited all his stupid friends and hung out in the basement, while the family whom his father forced him to have over as well lounged in their luxurious living room. And Hiccup always got priority seating next to his uncles who questioned him time and time again if he was involved in any sports, and aunts who fussed over his weight and told Stoick to make him eat more. Thus, why he preferred his birthday only involve his father and him. They didn't spend enough time alone anyway.

Once he arrived at school, Fishlegs found him and squished him in a hug that broke his bones. "Happy birthday, Hiccup!" He smiled at his much larger friend, trying to play off the fact he was just squished to death. "Yeah, thanks, Fishlegs." They talked until they made it to their lockers.

"I saw you got my text."

Hiccup looked up at the blonde girl resting against his lockers. "I did. And we've never established that you can call me hic."

Fishlegs interjected, "I called him that once when we were younger, and he gave me the official Haddock I-am-so-done-with-you face. Wouldn't recommend it." Hiccup promptly made this face at Astrid to make his point.

After they laughed it off, the bell rang, reminding them that they had to get to first period. Sleepy-faced teenagers trudged their way to their respective classrooms. Hiccup waved goodbye to Fishlegs and walked alongside Astrid to their history class on the third floor. "So what are you doing for your birthday?" She idly commented as they silently fought their way through the throng of students going up and down stairs. "Oh, nothing much. Just a little thing with my dad tonight. I don't do big parties." She paused, and raised an eyebrow at him. "Not even your friends come?"

Hiccup huffed, rolling his eyes at her. "I'm not popular like you, Astrid. I don't have a lot of friends." In fact, he had two. Well, he had acquaintances that he could briefly talk to if necessary, it's not like the whole school hated him. But in reality, the only people he could trust were Fishlegs and Astrid.

The school flew by so quickly, and before he knew it, the bell was ringing for the end of the day. Hiccup stood by his locker gathering his books when Astrid walked up to him and grabbed his arm.

"You're coming with me."

**_Author's Note_**

_oKAY I'VE BEEN TAKING WAY TOO LONG TO FIND A WAY TO END THIS CHAPTER AND IT STILL SUCKS don't kill me please I know it's been ages since an update, but hear me out. Going to be honest, no bs. _

_This story pretty much sucks in my opinion, except for the occasional (bad) pun/joke. I honestly probably wouldn't read this myself, and to be honest I've outgrown this story. I can't even reread or rewrite anything because this plot is pretty much nonexistent and too cheesy. This is why I've found it so hard to write and I'm sorry. I'm going to try my best from now on to write better quality stuff. (I hope you see an improvement in my writing with this chapter?)_

_I do thank this story for giving me experience and helping me improve, so thank you, and I apologize for taking a long time to update. The end of this fic is probably drawing near. I pretty much can't feel anything else to write with what I've set up for myself. Not too soon, I still have to tie up loose ends, but soon. _

_Also, if you care, it would mean the world to me if you would check out this because shameless promo amirite lads channel/UCt8j3b1gvTHZnGsXhjp_19w link probably won't work so put "iridescent skies rip" in youtube search haha im trash im sorry_

_lol my author's notes are longer than the actual chapter hahahahaha pls end my suffering thx_

_Thank you for your support and understanding. I hope everyone is doing well! Much love :)_


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